Charmed Once Again: The Burden of Legacy
by stephios
Summary: One night changed the lives of Wyatt's three daughters forever. In the wake of their parents deaths Lily, Holly and Poppy discover they're Charmed, the most powerful witches in their generation. It's going to be tough. Lucky some old faces are there to help them then.
1. Chapter 1

**PROLOGUE: YEAR 2039**

_In a burst of swirling blue light a man appeared. He swayed on the spot a moment before his legs gave way and he staggered into the grandfather clock beside him, the force of which brought it crashing down onto the floor along with him. He tried to get back up but his legs could only buckle as he tried repeatedly to raise himself off the ground, but he soon gave up. He sat, legs at odd angles, panting with intense pain such as he had never known before. Sweat was beading on his brow and blood was oozing fast and thick out of a deep gash in his side. Moving his limp arms away from the broken bits of glass around him, he pressed his pale hands hard against the wound in an effort to quench the flow of blood. A feeble blue light, similar to the one that engulfed him a minute earlier, appeared for a hint of a second beneath his fingertips before fading away. He swore. Desperately the man raised his head and gazed at the ceiling, closed his eyes and murmured something, as if he was summoning some strength from a higher being._

_The man realised that despite his efforts, it was useless. Whoever he was calling would never be able to get here in time; there were so many other people to deal with. His eyes darted around the blackness, he could hardly make out where he had orbed. The moment he realised he was in the hallway of his house, his heart dropped like a stone._

_He had led them straight into his home._

_Maybe they hadn't realised he had orbed away; perhaps he still had time to alert Ivy, get her to take the girls to safety. Gritting his teeth, he tried to make his way to his feet again, but he stopped short at the sound of a familiar voice._

'_It's happened, hasn't it?' As if hearing his thoughts, Ivy's, his wife, voice came coursing through the darkness of the hallway._

_Running to his side, she flicked on the lights with a quick wave of her hand._

'_No!' She breathed, taking in the extent of his wounds. Tears welled bright in her dark brown eyes._

'_CHRIS!' She shouted up desperately into the air but no one appeared._

'_Wyatt?' Ivy said in a different, a softer voice, her breath tickling his ear as she bent down to see if he were still breathing._

_The man desperately wanted to speak, to fight the realm of unconsciousness he was beginning to fade into and tell her that he had already called his brother._

'_Wyatt?' He felt her shake him gently. He opened his eyes and focussed them on his wife's perfect face, seeing both fear and concern there._

_Then he heard it. A deep rumbling sound erupted outside, distant at first, but distinctly growing louder and louder, signalling that time was already running out._

'_You have to get the girls out of the house,' He struggled out. The pain was so intense that it was all he could do not to scream out. He was so foolish, so stupid for leading them here.'They know who they are, they're coming after them…'_

_Ivy nodded, tears emerging in her eyes, and kissed her husband's forehead._

'_I'm not leaving you,' She whispered, clutching his hand tighter._

'_There's no time to be sentimental,' Wyatt said, voice heavy. He couldn't bear the look in Ivy's eyes, 'We always knew this moment would come,'_

_The rumbling was going through the house now, shaking the glass in the windowpanes and rattling the pictures on the walls._

'_Mom?' Through the rising din, Wyatt became aware of a new voice, 'What's all that noise? Is there an earthquake? -'_

'_No!' Wyatt shouted wildly, 'She can't come down here!'_

_Ivy left go of her husband's hand and turned her head towards the staircase, where one of their daughters, clad in her plaid pyjamas, had just come into sight._

'_Dad?' The girl gasped, noticing her mother crouched down next to her father._

'_Don't let Holly see me like this!' Wyatt begged his wife, but it was too late. Holly had looked down at her father sprawled in a mass of his blood and her wide blue eyes swam with tears and shock._

'_Dad!' She cried, running down the stairs, 'What happened? Who did that to him?'_

'_Shh, Holly,' Ivy soothed, and took hold of her daughter. She held her close to her chest so that she couldn't see her father dying on the floor. 'Where's Chris?' Ivy burst out._

_A sudden gust of wind howled through the house, and the front doors swung open. The paintings and pictures were blown off the walls and came hurtling through the hall at high speed, the wind knocking Ivy and Holly off their feet._

_The noise was deafening now, and Holly held her hands to her ears, looking around frantically through the hall, trying to locate the source of the commotion._

'_Ivy!' Wyatt was urgent now, 'please, you've got to go-'_

'_I can't just leave you here-' Ivy replied incredulously._

'_Don't worry about me, I've called Chris he's… Look,' He cast his eyes to the front door, where outside a cloud of smoke was beginning to whirl. 'Time's running out. Take the girls and run,'_

'_I can't,' Ivy cried, struggling to pull a terrified Holly to her feet, 'She won't get up. She's so frightened, Wyatt, I-''_

'_You're wasting time!' Wyatt insisted weakly, no longer able to fight the pain, 'You've still got a chance, if you go now-' but his words were lost in the echoing scream that had begun to issue from his daughters mouth. Wyatt followed her gaze to the front doorway, where several hooded figures were starting to advance through the now open door. Blind in panic, he tried to blow the nearest figure up with his power of molecular combustion, but he missed and made the front door explode open instead. In a swift movement Ivy moved her hands, telekinetically trying to close the door and knock the figures down and Wyatt used his last strength to finally struggle to his feet, but they were too quick for him. With an effortless flick of an arm, a ball of electric green fire came from a figure and hit Wyatt square in the chest._

'_WYATT!' Ivy screamed as she watched him fall, his face frozen in shock, 'NOOOOO!'_

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE: THREE MONTHS LATER<strong>

'Come on,' Daniel Greenborough urged in Holly Marston's ear, tracing a line of kisses down her neck.

His powers of persuasion were increasing by the minute as his hands slid further down her back. They were lying on her bed, the setting right and complete. Her family were out and they had the house to themselves. Adele's new album was playing and candles were everywhere. Their geometry homework, his excuse as to why he needed to go over to her house, lay forgotten on the bed beside them.

'I...can't…I don't want to,' Holly struggled out.

Though she couldn't see a real reason why she couldn't. She and Dan had been going out for seven months and they had done it plenty of times before. They had they had been through a lot together, so it wasn't like they were not committed to one another. She had to spend weeks persuading her parents that he was a decent guy after little sister had almost ruined everything by saying that he had left a trail of broken hearts all over her grade, which needless to say was her parents weren't overjoyed about. Holly enjoyed the time she spent with Dan, he was popular and charismatic and she, being popular and charismatic herself, knew that she was onto a good thing. He had also stuck by her during those horrific weeks back in June, which meant more to Holly than she would ever admit. But it was because of those events that had stopped her getting this physical with him again. Since then, the moment they were just about to she froze and pushed him away., amid cries of frustration and mild anger.

'It's OK,' He continued, kissing her hard on the mouth, and looking deep into her conflicted aqua marine eyes, 'you know I've got protection.'

What was the point refusing anymore? It wasn't like she had never done it before, and Danny was her boyfriend. She didn't want anymore 'frigid' rumours spreading through school about her. Her reputation meant more to her than a stupid new-found fear of intimacy.

Holly nodded her head, agreeing to something she couldn't quite put into words. She couldn't help but notice a brief triumphant gleam pass through Danny's smoky grey eyes making a strange surge of betrayal and cheapness coarse through her.

'Holly!' A voice called, forcing Holly and Danny apart, 'Are you home? Look what I managed to get in the sale at _American Eagle_for you!'

'Crap!' Holly shrieked, jumping away from Danny, and clinging to the edge of her bed as her door burst open and her unsuspecting little sister came bounding into the bedroom.

The scene swam before Poppy's wide eyes. The bag she was holding dropped with a thump as she took in Holly's lack of clothing, Danny's bare chest, all the scented candles.

'EURGH!' She yelled, clapping a hand over her eyes, backing away.

'Poppy!' Holly hissed, 'Poppy shhhh!'

'Oh my God, Oh my God,' Her sister was chanting, 'I'm scarred for life!'

'Poppy please!' Holly now pleaded, knowing what would happen if Poppy's shrieking became known to anyone else who had just come home.

'I can't believe you! We've only been gone an hour and he wasn't even here then!'

'What's going on?' A new voice demanded impatiently.

Oh no, Holly thought, throwing her comforter over herself, but it was too late. Before she knew what was happening her Uncle Chris had appeared in the doorway. He surveyed the situation, came to the same conclusion Poppy had a few moments before and his green eyes narrowed with anger.

'I want you to get dressed and get the hell out of the house,' He directed at Danny, 'And _you_,' Chris turned his attention towards Holly, 'Come downstairs when you're decent and tell me just what the _hell_ you thought you were thinking,'

Holly looked away, hating to hear the disappointment in his voice and hating to be on the receiving end of one of _those_disgusted looks she knew he saved up for her. Why hadn't she heard them all come home?

Without another word, Chris left the room, leaving Poppy revelling in her sister's embarrassment.

'Oh Holly you-,' Poppy started but Holly overrode her.

'You complete bitch,' Holly said through gritted teeth, 'Get out of my room before I smack you around the face,'

'Like you'd dare, you know you can't exhibit too much anger or-'

'Poppy, I won't say it again!' Holly snarled viciously, feeling anger bubbling up dangerously in her chest, 'Get the HELL OUT NOW!'

'FINE!' Poppy said and stalked out of the room.

'Good one,' Danny shot at her as he pulled his Levis back on.

Holly couldn't believe it.

'You cannot be serious,' She said, temper flaring, as she threw her dress over her head, 'you can't blame me! You didn't hear them either,'

'Whatever Holly,' He said, not looking at her, 'you were all over me,'

Holly felt as if cold water had just been thrown all over her.

They were rushing down the stairs now, where Holly's elder sister, Lily was standing in the hall putting away her coat. Lily stopped short and stared as Holly and Danny both ran past her.

'I was all over you?' Holly shouted once she had calmed down enough to speak 'I've got protection you said, clearly _you're_the one with the hidden agenda!' Holly couldn't remember a time where she had felt so furious with herself.

'Call me,' He said, smirking at her, as he went through the front door. Holly stood speechless and fuming in the doorway.

'Don't tell me,' Lily said gravely, 'that you were hooking up with someone as insensitive as that?'

'We didn't actually do anything,' Holly admitted, not looking at her. Lily had this strange ability that meant that it was impossible to lie around her. Odd as it was, Lily's disapproval meant much more than Uncle Chris's, 'Poppy came in before anything happened...'

'No I didn't!' Poppy said with mirth as she joined the scene, 'It was so obvious...you did it with him! So, three months too long for you to go without –'

'Poppy please-' Lily began wearily, but Holly cut her off.

'HOW DARE YOU!' Holly yelled at the top of her voice, 'don't you dare think you understand what's going on in my head. How could you even bring that up?'

'Oh come on,' Poppy rolled her eyes, 'It's nothing new. You've always been like this. I bet you had it planned for weeks, moment we're out of the house you can get up to your old tricks –'

'Do you really want to push me Poppy?'

'Ooooooh,' Poppy replied sarcastically, 'I'm really scared, what you gonna do? Blow me up?'

'Why you-'

'That's enough!' The tall form of their uncle Chris came striding into the hall. The sisters immediately closed their mouths and looked at the floor. 'Poppy, go upstairs and-'

'What?' Poppy cried, 'I didn't do anything!'

'That's a joke and a-' Holly muttered under her breath, but Chris shot Holly a look that silenced her.

'Poppy, I won't say it again,' He directed, nodding up the stairs, 'And Holly...in the kitchen…now,'

Poppy stuck her tongue out as Holly began to follow her uncle into the back of the house, and Lily had to grab hold of her middle sister to stop her tearing Poppy to shreds.

'So, yeah, I'm under house arrest,' Holly told her best friend Alexi Newberry later that night. She was sitting on her bed; still shaking from the confrontation she had had with Chris half an hour ago.

'Shame,' Alexi said without sympathy, 'your uncle went completely ape then, huh?'

Although Alexi could be cold and distant, especially since they had started High School and popularity started to mean more to her than their friendship, they had known each other since kindergarten and she was Holly's closest friend. But they had grown even more apart recently, similar to have everything in Holly's life was beginning to unravel. Alexi didn't know how to act around Holly after her parents died a few months ago and Holly was beginning to realise there was more to life than popularity, which meant that she was beginning to feel isolated at school. She just wanted to be alone these days, something Danny and Alexi had trouble comprehending.

'What else do you expect?' Holly snapped, 'He's always been totally anal. Even when we were kids, Lil, Poppy and I never wanted to go to uncle Chris's because he didn't know the meaning of fun,'

'Well…' Alexi told her distractedly. The background noise indicated that she was at a party, probably thrown by some of their mutual jock friends, which meant that Alexi obviously didn't want to be talking to her instead of flirting with the football team behind her boyfriends back, 'There's nothing you can do then,'

'It totally sucks,' Holly said angrily. 'Chris didn't have a problem grounding me from here until next year,'

'Hmm,'

'You could at least pretend you care,' Holly bit out.

' Well, you can't _really_blame him,' Alexi said, 'what else is he gonna do if he catches his naked niece being slobbered on by some hair gelled Casanova?'

'I wasn't completely naked,'

'You might as well have been,' Alexi said, 'It had to happen tonight, didn't it? Cal managed to get tickets to the View and _Gooseberry_are playing all week, we're all going after Parker's party,'

Holly groaned. Although Cal Whitepath was a huge moron, being his friend had one benefit. One of his older brothers was non-other than senior hottie extraordinaire Freddy Whitepath, the lead in _Gooseberry_, the hottest and most talented band around.

'So can you sneak out or what?'

Holly laughed.

'Are you joking? Oh, um gotta go,' Holly hurried, hanging up when she saw her uncle in the doorway.

'I thought I told you no calls?'

'What do you want?' She shot back.

'You didn't come down for dinner,' He said, and set down a tray of lasagne and a glass of diet coke on her desk.

She felt a sharp pang in her chest as she recognised the smell, it was her mother's recipe.

'Phoebe said that I should come up and see if you're all right,' He said uncomfortably. It was obvious he was trying to make up for how ruthless he was in punishing her earlier.

Chris had grounded her for three weeks, her internet wireless router and phone had been confiscated and she had been banned from after school soccer practice and cheerleading until the end of the month. It was completely hypocritical. Holly wasn't half as bad as Chris had been when he was her age, and he was acting like a complete martyr, like he was doing her a favour and protecting her honour when in fact she had lost it a year and a half ago.

'No,' She said, turning away from him, 'you thought that you'd fatten me up and make me unattractive to boys instead,'  
>She was annoyed that her uncle had to go to his aunt for parenting advice. Well, she shouldn't really be surprised since had no kids himself and was absolutely clueless when it came to parenthood. Holly thought this must be due to all the floosies he used to date coming to their senses when they realised their kids would share half of his DNA. It was common knowledge that Chris had been the wild child in the family. It must've been quite a shock when he read Dad's will, Holly thought savagely. What was her father playing at by entrusting his daughters to someone who clearly hated having to look after others? Surely putting them straight in Great Aunt Phoebe's care would've made more sense? After all, she raised three daughters herself.<p>

'No, that's isn't what I thought,' Chris said wearily, 'Kids need food to grow. You're a kid so you need to grow,'

She was fifteen years old, not a kid.

'Can you just please go away?' She asked him, 'I need to get over the humiliation of my uncle not believing me when I tell him the truth,'

Dad would've believed her. He would've been pissed, but he would've believed her. Not for the first time she wondered how they could be related. Uncle Chris was a hard slab of granite compared to her father.

'Look,' There was a change in tone in her uncle's voice. He sat down on the edge of her bed, 'I know these last few months have been terrible, I can't begin to understand-'

'Don't you tell me how I've been feeling!' She shouted at him, spinning around, her blue eyes furious. 'You don't know what it's been like for me, having to pretend everything's OK when my whole world…look, it's easier for Poppy and Lily, they weren't-'

'Are you forgetting that I was there too?' Chris demanded fiercely, 'Holly, I know you hate to hear it, but I'm possibly the _only_person who knows what you're-'

'Please, Chris,' Holly's voice broke, and to her fury she felt tears well in her eyes. She had said too much. She had never allowed herself to talk about that night. It was enough revisiting the scene of her parent's murders every time she went to sleep, 'just go away,'

Chris stared at his niece for a moment, the impatience in his eyes dissolving into sadness. He opened his mouth to say something, but a moment later thought better of it. He sighed and left the room.

* * *

><p><em>Hello readers, thank you so much for giving my story a click and a chance. I hope you enjoy it. For those of you who are confused with the 'Marston' business, all will become clearer later on but to fill you in briefly….Wyatt changed his name when he left home to go to Columbia. He left his home and legacy behind to start a new life after his parents were killed. The repercussions of this are everywhere in this story, affecting the sisters (whose powers he bound until their 21<em>_st__ birthday or until those that cast the spell died – obviously you know where I got that idea from! __), Chris (whom he basically abandoned), as well as his parents Piper and Leo, his aunt Phoebe etc. _

_There are still lots of Charmed elements in this story but it is my own take on 'what could have been' for Wyatt and Chris and their children. (Melinda doesn't feature in this story as I started writing it before the end of last season/before Melinda was eventually born). Please read and review. Love to hear your feedback. _


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Before dinner that night Lily had tried to revise for English test but it was difficult because her sister Poppy could be heard bitching about Holly to her best friend on the phone through her bedroom wall, distracting her. Poppy hero-worshipped her sister; Holly was cool, adored and stunning whereas Poppy was shy, awkward and self-effacing, and Holly never had a problem telling her that she found her the most annoying person on earth. It always fell to Lily, the mediator, the eldest sister, to negotiate some form of compromise between the two sisters when things got really bad. Not for the first time Lily wished they would stop all this arguing and pull themselves together. She had so many responsibilities now, what with starting at the tutor center at school, thinking about what colleges she wanted to apply to…there were just so many other things to deal with. Lily found change hard to accept, and there had been a lot of changes lately, least of which involved Holly's new constant need for drama.

After dinner she had moved downstairs to get away from Poppy and started work in the beautiful conservatory. In the end she was forced to go downstairs to do some work and sat across from her Great Aunt Phoebe, who was working on her column and answering fan mail.

'I think I'll call it a day,' She admitted wearily to her great Aunt. It was gone half-eleven and Lily had been just finished her English revision, her own revision timetable for midterms and a work schedule for a boy she tutored, a freshman who was struggling in algebra.

'All right honey,' Phoebe looked up from her laptop and smiled at her as Lily gathered all her books together, 'Sleep well,'

'You too,'

'Check on Holly on your way up would you?' Phoebe called as Lily reached the door, 'Make sure she's all right and has done all of her homework,'

'OK,' Lily agreed reluctantly. She hated to be the nag.

But when she reached their landing and pushed Holly's door open, she found that Holly was nowhere to be seen. An untouched lasagne and a full glass of diet coke was on her desk, clothes were strewn everywhere and there was an open suitcase on the floor, as if she had thought about packing but decided against it.

Lily ran a hand through her long dark hair and sighed as she registered the open window.

Holly had snuck out.

Lily wished that her sister would stop pulling these pranks. It was bad enough at home without Holly being the biggest pain in the backside.

'Is she still sulking?' Her uncle asked, appearing on the landing next to Lily. Chris knew that he had been harsh, but the way Holly was going...well, he just had to set down some ground rules. He just couldn't deal with her rebelling when he now had three girls to bring up. It reminded him too much of the pain he and Wyatt had put their parents through when they were teenagers. A pain that he could never take back.

Immediately, protectively, Lily closed the door with a snap.

'No,' She said, avoiding his gaze, 'She's asleep'.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Lily sat her dreaded midterm on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Despite having a GPA of 4.0, she found English harder than her other subjects and always found herself spending too long on an English essay just to get it right. She was more mathematically inclined, excelled in science and dreamed of becoming a doctor.<p>

Her long black hair swept down onto the desk shielding her face as she flipped over to the next sheet of paper, writing furiously, aware that there was only ten minutes left of the exam. Lily was anxious that she hadn't done enough revision last night, and kept on forgetting key lines from the play to support her argument.

A Latino boy on the next table kept sneaking looks at her from the corner of his eye, and then quickly turned back before she or anyone else noticed. Unaware that she had attracted attention, Lily swept back her hair, exposing a pale face creased in concentration. She stopped writing. Her mind had become unexpectedly blank. Before she could grow furious with herself, she really didn't need to waste any more time with this paper, a quick sudden pain flared across her head, as though someone smashed a brick there.

Lily gasped and rubbed her forehead.

'Is there something wrong?' Asked the teacher in a bored voice, looking up from his desk at the front where he had been reading a detective novel.

'Oh, no sir, I'm fine'

But everything was not fine. Her sister had just made contact with her through her mind, meaning that something was wrong. Poppy wasn't allowed to use her powers without the presence of an 'of-age' witch because she, out of all the Marston girls, had the most trouble grasping them.

With bated breath, her heart hammering, she expected the worst.

Trying to concentrate, she braced herself for the second signal. Then, with no warning, Lily's vision suddenly clouded and she heard an echoing voice in her ear, her sisters jumbled thoughts.

'Poppy?' Lily thought hurriedly, recognising the voice despite the fact Poppy was the only one she knew with this.._.ability_.

She heard an intake of breath.

'Lily? Is that you?' Poppy asked in surprise.

'What is it Poppy?' Lily thought urgently, getting more irate, 'It's Holly isn't it? What is it this time? Got something else pierced, fallen into a lake, attacked by a swarm of –'

'No…Holly's OK, I'm sorry,' Poppy stammered, 'I just fell asleep and-'

Lily felt all her panic subside and replace with exasperation.

'POPPY! You can't go contacting me whenever you feel like! I'm in an exam!'

'I'm sorry Lil! I didn't meant to do it...'

Poppy's echoing voice drifted into vagueness. Lily felt herself becoming more aware of the room around her and it soon swam back into focus once more. Lily looked around quickly to see if anyone had seen but some stroke of luck everyone was still bent over his or her essays as if nothing had happened. It was typical. If Poppy was in the room, or near her, Lily would have still had control of herself, it was only when Poppy contacted people further away that the person she contacted was rendered virtually unconscious. When she heard Poppy's voice she immediately thought of Holly, who had failed to make an appearance at breakfast, forcing Lily to cover for her again.

With a guilty look at the clock, trying to put an end to her worry about her wayward sister for the time being, Lily hurried on with her test.

* * *

><p>'Miss Marston...Miss Marston?' Repeated the Mrs Zanicki, 'Poppy?'<p>

Poppy lifted her head from the desk and blinked. Her light hazelnut eyes were struggling to focus, and her classmates sniggered at her expense. She shot a look of pure venom at the boy next to her who was paralysed with laughter and turned back to her teacher.

'Sorry?' She asked, mortified.

'Are you going to turn out your lamp? I think you're burning your leaf,'

'Oh no!'

Poppy swiped the slide from under the lamp, but it was too late. Her photosynthesis experiment had just been cremated.

The bell rang. Poppy quickly grabbed her bag and rushed out of the room before her teacher, Mrs Zanicki, asked her to stay behind for a 'chat'. She had asked her for a 'chat' two days ago when she had noticed a teary Poppy coming into Biology after Holly and her friends made fun of her for falling over on the track, an experience that made Poppy doubly humiliated.

She knew, due to her recent behaviour, that she was securing herself a reputation as the lamest clumsiest freshman alive. After dropping her full tray in the cafeteria three days in a row, once on top of a really cute guy in the grade above her, swearing accidentally in French to her Spanish teacher, and forgetting her timetable and getting lost all over school, Poppy knew that she couldn't have settled into High School any worse.

On top of that, she couldn't help but notice all the teachers paying special attention to her ever since she had started at Drew in September. Mrs Zanicki had told her that 'if ever she needed to talk' she could come to her. Poppy knew she'd probably link her behaviour to some weird psychological fall out with her parent's death. Something that Poppy knew might be true, but didn't want to admit.

True to form, Poppy collided with Holly as she exited her Biology classroom at top speed, knocking the bag off of her shoulders.

'Watch it!' Holly said, angrily picking up her bag from the floor. The friends that Holly had been walking with, including Bitch Supreme Alexi Newberry and her boyfriend Danny, snickered as they walked away to cheerleading practice. So, Danny and Holly were still together then...Poppy couldn't help but be annoyed by this news.

She hated Danny. He was such a slime. Whenever he came over to the house he would always 'accidentally' come into her room while she was changing.

'Oh I'm SO sorry' Poppy exploded.

'What's eating you?' Holly called as Poppy stormed past them.

Poppy ignored her and continued speeding off to Algebra.

'Oh, is your sister a cheerleader? I didn't know,'

The boy from Poppy's Bio class had caught up with her.

Poppy scowled at Brice's lame joke. _Everyone _knew that Holly Marston was a cheerleader.

'God,' She snapped back, 'You know she'd never be interested in you, she's not into anyone but herself and her stupid jock friends,'

'I'm not interested in her!' Brice cried in astonishment, starting to laugh.

Brice Whitepath was tall and slim with an open friendly face, big warm brown eyes and long silky almost black hair, inherited from his father who was Native American. After his infamous brothers Henry, Joe, Freddy and Cal, Brice was the last of the Whitepath's to attend Drew School. Poppy had been friends with Brice since kindergarten, connecting instantly, sharing the bond that only the youngest child overshadowed by superior siblings can and a mutual love for old 60's cartoons.

But Poppy was upset. She had abused her power, something her uncle told her strictly _not _to do, and she knew she was going to be in for it later. Poppy didn't have time for Brice's wit when she was shaming and embarrassing her way out of seventh grade.

'Hey, where are you going?' Brice called as she walked away, smile falling off his face as he realised she was distressed.

'She's so stuck up,' She heard Evan Gregory, a boy from their class, mutter to him in undertone, 'I don't know why you bother,'

'Shut up,' Brice retorted angrily, his heart swelling with loyalty towards his best friend, 'She's not stuck up at all. Poppy's been through a lot, you can't blame -'

But Poppy was so far away from them at this point she couldn't hear anything else.

* * *

><p>'Hey Lil!' Someone called once the test was over.<p>

Lily turned around to see her closest friend Myra Reid running to towards her, her curly brown hair bouncing on her shoulders.

'Hey Myra,'

When Myra caught up, she fell into Lily's stride and together they made their way to the lunchroom, where they had eaten together for the last three years. Although they had been friends since middle-school, they hung out with each other because they didn't want to be alone in the lunchroom rather than having compatible interests. Their friendship grew and they liked spending time together, but they were not really very close. Lily always got the feeling that Myra wanted to be closer to her, but Lily always held back. She didn't find it easy to give herself entirely to another person. She was insular, and it took a lot of time for her to accept and trust people. But Myra understood this about her and didn't push it.

'Man I'm glad that test is over,' Lily sighed with relief as they took their usual seats in the cafeteria, 'Those were two hours of my life I'll never get back,'

But Myra's mind seemed to be on other things.

'Scott was checking you out again,' Myra whispered, grinning like crazy.

'Oh, glad to know you paid attention to the paper,' Lily laughed, rolling her eyes.

'I can't help it,' Myra whined, 'your improving love life is way more interesting than a _quintessence of dust _and HamHamlet going on about how much his life sucks and how everyone hates him. Unlike_ Scott _who clearly is interested in something other than himself,' Myra grinned and nudged Lily in the side.

'You're exaggerating things. You know I'm not interested in Scott in that way...' She was tired of telling this to her. They had all known each other since they were little. It was weird to think of any of her friends interested in each other romantically. It had been her, Myra and Scott since third grade. They had known each other since the days of the sandpit for Gods sake.

Myra rolled her brown eyes impatiently.

'I know _you _aren't,' Myra said, 'but you can't deny that Scott's completely obsess-'

'Shhhh!' Lily hissed, nodding to where Scott was making his way over to them.

Myra fell silent, and watched as Scott joined their table.

'How did you find it?' Myra asked him the moment he sat down. She was editor of the school paper, the _Informer_, and it made her very analytical of everything. She had to be in the know and often partook in alarming methods to gain her scoop, one of which once involved a lock of a freshman's hair, which everyone found extremely grating.

'It was fine,' Scott said absent-mindedly, taking a sandwich from his bag. He looked up at Lily with concern.

'Was it alright for you? It looked like you were having a hard time in there,'

'What do you mean?' Lily asked quickly.

Myra raised her eyebrow at Lily's new panicked tone of voice.

'It looked like you completely blanked out for a minute...something you _never _do,' Scott said casually, not looking at her as he dug into his meatball-sub.

'Oh,' Lily said, thinking fast, 'it was nothing, just a headache that's all-' She stopped, catching sight of Holly and her friends as they took seats on the other side of the cafeteria.

'I'll be back in a minute,' She told Scott and Myra, and headed over to her sister's lunch table. Danny Greenborough was sitting next to her sister, his arms around her protectively. When he saw Lily walking towards them his face broke out into a grin and pulled her sister closer to him so she was almost sitting on his lap. Lily repressed the urge to roll her eyes, but it was hard. In her eyes, especially after last night, Danny was a game player and a complete jackass, and Lily didn't know what Holly saw in him apart from the superficial factors of his looks and popularity.

'Holly,' Lily said, glaring at Danny despite her normal placid nature, 'I want a word,'

Holly looked up in surprise. It seemed that she was halfway through telling some killer story, the rest of her friends were listening to her in raptures. She stopped and looked at Lily in irritation.

'What is it?' Holly had followed Lily out of the cafeteria and through some deserted corridors.

'I don't care where you were last night and this morning. But just so you know, I'm not covering for you again,'

'Okaaaaay…' Holly said, raising an careless eyebrow as if to say '_anything else?_'

'Look, I just don't want to have to keep on lying to uncle Chris,' Lily said sharply, her patience waning, 'I've got enough on my plate without having to watch your back,'

'Are you sure this is all you're pissed about?' Holly asked, folding her arms, 'Or are you joining the judgement bandwagon Poppy's jumped on?'

'Yes this is about last night, and every other night you sneak out without telling anyone where you are,' Lily told her angrily, 'You know the score now, you know what's out there, what danger there is. I'm fed up with worrying about you. And while we're on the subject, I don't like you hanging around with that Danny,'

'What's Danny got to do with anything?' Holly demanded, her famous temper rising. Where did Lily get off telling her what to do? 'You didn't have a problem with him when we first started dating all those months ago,'

'Oh please. This was before he had this agenda to get you naked at every opportunity,' Lily hissed.

'He's not a demon, Lily,' Holly taunted.

'_I know that _', She retorted through gritted teeth, 'Please…just watch yourself and don't sneak out again-'

'I don't have to listen to you mother me,' Holly snapped, 'How about you get your own life and butt out of mine?'

'Holly, I-', Lily stammered, as usual shocked by the extent of Holly's ferocity.

'Oh for Gods sake,' Holly rolled her eyes, 'Stop acting like you own me, would you? I am capable of taking care of myself,'

Lily watched her sister turn on her heel and head back towards the cafeteria. The pep talk not going as well as she'd planned; she scowled and decided to take a walk to cool down, not wanting to go back and see the smug look on Myra's face every time Scott innocently asked her a question.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! Please review. More magictraditional Charmed characters are on their way, bear with me. Trying to introduce the sisters and their story first. _


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Lily and Poppy walked home together after school. Their school was a very selective private school, popular for plastic surgeons, lawyers, CEO's and local billionaires to send their children to in hopes that their children would stand a better chance at the Ivy League when they applied for colleges. You had to pass a mandatory test to get in, which Lily aced two years ago and surprisingly Holly did the next, but Poppy only just scraped by in the spring. Poppy wished that her parents could have seen her get in and helped her get through the demanding workload of the first month; Poppy was struggling to keep up with it all. The girls' new home was only a few blocks away from the school, a Victorian manor where they lived with their dad's younger brother and their Great-Aunt and Uncle.

The manor had been the family home for over 170 years, passed down generation to generation. They had only just moved there in the summer but they had lived in San Francisco all of their lives. Chris' aunt and uncle moved back in too, to make sure the girls had dinner every night and to generally look after them when Chris wasn't around. It was fun to have Coop and Phoebe around, Chris often had to work late and didn't come home until one in the morning sometimes, if at all.

Poppy's long light brown hair shimmered in the breeze. Unlike Holly, who was blessed with eyes of a beautiful aloof aquamarine blue, Lily and Poppy each had dark, and in Poppy's mentality, boring eyes. She had long flowing hazelnut hair and a small frame, completely unlike Holly who had the body of Angelina Jolie and Lily, who was tall, willowy and graceful.

Lily's mind was on the events of the day. When she found out she was a witch she was shocked with the news but unlike her sisters, she hadn't been given any powers. As she watched Poppy eagerly and Holly reluctantly practice their gifts, Lily had felt some twinges of jealousy deep in the pit of her stomach. Although deep down she was thankful, she didn't want visions interrupting her every thought, but she was forever wondering why she, the eldest sister, was denied her powers when she was the most responsible one. Her great aunt Phoebe hadn't even offered her a decent explanation, mumbling about '_getting-them-when-the-time-is-right' _when she asked why she didn't have hers, then going on to teach Holly how to summon.

Poppy walked fast, eager to get home. She didn't like to be on the streets alone now, even when she was with her big sister, and she was also troubled with the fact she had fallen asleep during biology and therefore had no idea what the homework was. She was getting so far behind already and was terrified the administration would revoke the appeal that let Poppy attend Drew.

'What's wrong?' Lily asked Poppy, knowing when something was on her sister's mind.

'Nothing,' Poppy murmured. She didn't want to admit that she was still struggling to settle in and wished that she could talk to their Mom. Sometimes in the night, after having a nightmare, Poppy was seized by the urge to run into her parents' bed. But after a few seconds came the cold harsh reality that they were gone, making Poppy feel so sad and empty that she almost wished she was back in nightmare land.

Lily, also knowing when Poppy didn't want to talk, even though she was the sister that wouldn't _stop _talking, put her arm around her and pulled her close.

'Aunt Phoebe?' Poppy called through the house as soon as they got home. Lily gave her arm a squeeze and a reassuring smile and went upstairs.

'In here honey!'

Poppy followed the voice to the conservatory, where her great Aunt was sitting on the sofa, her iMac propped on her knees, writing her column. Phoebe had been working at the Bay Mirror for over thirty-five years and was one of the celebrated romance and relationship experts in the country. It was sort of funny that after many years of searching for romance in her twenties and early thirties she had married a Cupid.

'Where's uncle Coop?' Poppy asked, taking a seat on one of the squashy sofas.

'Oh I expect he's around somewhere,' Phoebe said vaguely, big brown eyes behind their fashionable glasses distracted, 'Good day?'

'Um,' Poppy began awkwardly, 'I...sort of...contacted Lily today...'

This got Phoebe's attention.

'Oh sweetheart,' She looked up and smiled when she saw her frightened expression, 'don't look so worried. It's all right,'

'I wish it would stop happening,' Poppy said, folding her knees up to her chest and hugging them, 'I wish that I could control my powers,'  
>'So do I,' Phoebe winked, 'I may be over 50 but I still have trouble with them. They're tied to our emotions…girls have a harder time with it than boys. My powers have always been haywire. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with a few little magical mishaps now and again,'<br>Despite these words, Poppy didn't feel very comforted.  
>'I wish I had known about Mom and Dad when they were still alive. I would have liked to know how they dealt with them,'<br>'Well…it's a different story. Both your Mom and Dad knew about their powers from birth. Your Dad didn't want you to have your powers until you came of age at 21. It's only because –'  
>'Something happened,' Poppy said glumly. Every time she thought about this she couldn't help but feel cheated. As if her father had been deliberately denying her a vital piece of information about her for reasons that she couldn't really understand.<br>'Tell me about what happened when you contacted Lily,' Phoebe diverted tactfully, 'daydreaming again were you?' She asked kindly.

Poppy nodded and smiled embarrassedly.

'I can't help it, biology is so boring,'

Phoebe frowned suddenly.

'Did Holly come home with you two?' When Poppy looked away uneasily, Phoebe's face darkened, 'your uncle is going to hit the roof. If she's cheerleading-'

'She'll probably be home soon…' Poppy said feebly, knowing that Holly definitely was hanging out with her friends and intending to cheer on the game later that night. She wouldn't be home until gone eleven, and this was probably a night when Chris would come home from work early. Things just worked out that way.

'Holly really isn't making life easy for Chris,' Phoebe laughed, 'She reminds me so much of Prue sometimes. She was stubborn as hell and always thought she was right. I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if Prue hadn't had to look after us when we were kids…I think she would have been exactly like Holly, going out, sneaking around, boys hovering around her the moment she developed breasts and clear skin. Prue was really popular too,'

'Who do I remind you of?'

'Well, I suppose…myself,' She grinned, 'Before we knew about Paige, I was the youngest Halliwell. I found it hard to settle into high school too. Prue did everything under the sun to make sure that Piper and I were always OK and where Piper was good at school; I was a pain in the ass and always got on her nerves. I was clumsy and always felt like I let the family down because I didn't get good grades to begin with and I wasn't on the student council. But don't worry,' She added, noticing Poppy's face fall, 'I promise things don't always turn out the way you think they do. Look at Chris! He was a complete waster in High School, but he somehow ended up going to Yale and helped your dad set up his law firm!'

'Will uncle Chris be angry?' Poppy asked apprehensively, 'about me…y'know, using my powers?'

Phoebe snorted, 'When isn't that boy pissed?'

* * *

><p>Holly walked home with a couple of friends later that evening in high spirits. She had been cheering at the football game, in which her school team had won, a rare feat. After her parents were murdered three months ago, she started pumping everything into cheerleading, all her pent up emotions, and it wasn't exactly the hardest decision of the school to give her headship, a really important accolade since she was only a sophomore.<p>

She was dressed in her purple and gold cheerleading uniform, which was immaculate and well cared for. Out of all of the three sisters, Holly took the news of being a witch the worst. She didn't want to believe it, because if she were a witch with powers she could have stopped her parents from getting killed. Holly never looked forward to going home. It wasn't even her home anyway. Her uncle Chris uprooted them all into the manor after her mom and dad had died, as if trying to bury what had happened. They hardly ever talked about her parents, but their loss was still painful and resounded deep into the house.

She and her friends were reaching her new home, and Holly quickly bid goodbye to them, not wanting them to set foot anywhere near the house.

'See you later!' Holly called to Alexi and Jon. Danny walked her up the drive to the house, and kissed her goodnight.

'Sorry about yesterday babe,' Danny said, kissing her, 'Sorry that you're grounded,'

'Night,' She smiled, and watched him disappear back down into the street. He had spent the whole day trying to make up for what a thoughtless hack he had been last night, though unbeknown to Holly, he was doing it for less than thoughtful reasons. Before she arrived at the party last night he had been making out with Chelsea, a girl who Holly could not stand and was forever trying to get with Danny.

She opened the door, full of smiles, but her face dropped as soon as she saw a stony glare from Uncle Chris greet her in the doorway.

DAMN! She had been banned from cheerleading, she knew, but she had counted on her uncle being at work. She would've changed before he'd got home, without seeing her disobeying the rules.

'I can't believe this, what did I tell you?' He demanded, his viridian eyes flashing dangerously.

Holly sighed impatiently.

'Well, what do you expect? I need some fun in my life to get away from the drama you give me,' Holly explained dumping her gym bag down by the door.

'The drama _I _give _you_?' Chris asked, laughing, 'I should have known you'd do this. How can I treat you like an adult when I can't trust you at all?' Chris continued, 'Why has your cell been off?'

'You think that I'm going to keep my cell on to hear your shit while I'm giving a D, giving an R, giving an E-' She began irately, but her uncle cut her off.

'You're banned from cheerleading forever, Holly. I cannot believe how irresponsible you're being. Maybe if you _did _get attacked it would knock some sense into you,'

'CHRIS! You can't do this to me! I'm head cheerleader, if Alexi-' Holly shouted, but he interrupted.

'I don't give a damn about what Alexi Newberry thinks. There's some left over chicken in the kitchen. Your sisters are upstairs doing their homework, so keep the noise down.'

He stormed to the back of the house, where she could hear her great uncle Coop and great aunt Phoebe talking in the kitchen. Ordinarily, she would have gone into the kitchen to say hi to them, but she couldn't stand the thought of facing her stupid uncle again.

Shaking with fury, Holly went into the living room, wiping her furious tears away. That was it for her. Being grounded and shed her headship meant that her social status was now officially heading towards Siberia. Alexi was going to be in heaven. Holly knew that Alexi had always wanted to be head cheerleader, and with a pang she realised that her dream had come true.

'God, I hate him!' Holly shouted, her temper flaring, 'Why am I the one he picks on?' She kicked the foot of the couch; her throbbing foot only adding to the pain and irritation that she was already feeling.

He had lost his parents too, he had been around her age when it happened, Holly mused, but like hell she was ever going to have a heart to heart with him about it. She knew that Chris was probably having a hard time getting over his brother's death, after everything that had happened when they were younger, they were still very close. Chris had arrived at the scene too late to save Wyatt and was fighting tooth and nail to save Ivy and Holly that he hadn't realised Ivy was dead too.

The recent events should have bought Chris and Holly closer than anyone but the memories of that night didn't seem to plague _his _thoughts like they plagued Holly's. Something like a dark constricting cloud followed Holly everywhere she went. Her mother died in her arms. She had held her while Chris was trying to pull her away from the advancing demons. Her mother and her father died in that battle but somehow she, Poppy, Lily and Uncle Chris survived.

Then came the 'news'. The news that she had magic powers and that she and her sisters were witches. After reciting some poem, a spell she later found out, they gained their powers and the knowledge that there were many things out there that wanted them, and how she and her sisters, when they came of age, had to protect the innocent with them. Holly had the power of summoning, and molecular combustion, the ability to blow things apart. Poppy had telepathic communication and molecular immobilization, the power to freeze, and Lily had the power of healing and pregconition, to see the future, and retrocognition, to see the past. All these big words, big things, were hard to digest after she had seen her father blown to smithereens and discovering that molecular combustion meant that _she _could blow things to smithereens too. Holly had made a pact with herself. She would ignore her powers. She would do whatever it takes, her boyfriend, her cheerleading, her sports, her social life, to put that horror behind her. But now that these 'distractions' were being taken away from her, it was beginning to get a lot harder for Holly to hide from the truth.

* * *

><p>The chime of the grandfather clock echoing through the house awoke Lily with a start.<p>

Her eyes swam over the light by her desk and she got up.

She looked over to the digital clock radio:

8.00am.

'Damn it!' Lily shouted.

She rushed out of bed and hurried to her wardrobe.

'Lily?' Enquired a tired looking Uncle Chris from the doorway.

'I amsolate for school!' Lily said in a panicked, looking into her wardrobe urgently.

'Lil...it's the weekend.' Chris said worriedly.

Lily sighed and sank down on her bed, feeling ashamed with herself.

'It must be these midterms. I woke up around three this morning and realised I hadn't revised for Chem. Then halfway through the textbook I realised I already did that exam on Tuesday…' She looked down at her knees, utterly embarrassed.

Chris came into the room and sat down next to her.

'Do you want some help revising?' He asked, 'I'm out of touch but I'm sure you could sharpen me up,'

'Oh, I'll be OK,' She said, touched, knowing how busy he was, 'I just don't know where my head is lately,'

'You work too hard,' Chris said, with a funny look in his eye, 'You always look so tired…'

Lily smiled appreciatively at her uncle's unusual tenderness. Although she wouldn't openly admit it to Holly, who resented Uncle Chris beyond belief, Lily really admired him. He had been through so much but he was the strongest person she knew. Great Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Coop had been wonderful with Holly and Poppy after their parents' death, but it had been Uncle Chris who had helped Lily through it. Knowing that Lily was insular and liked to spend time on her own, and also knowing that was possibly the worst thing you could do after a situation like the death of her parents, Chris just used to sit with Lily up in her room. He used to take his work up there and work at her desk while Lily sat transfixed and staring at the TV for weeks.

She had thought him weird at the time, but now when she thought about it she realised she couldn't have got through it all without him there. Without Chris subtly being there for her, she would have gone insane with loneliness and grief.

'I'm all right,' Lily smiled, 'and it's not me you should be worried about. It's the other two,'

She was right.

By the time she and Chris went downstairs for breakfast, Poppy and Holly were already at it.

'But it's your job to do the dishes today!' Poppy explained angrily pointing the sink, which was laden with a days worth of washing up.

'Unlike you, Poppy, I actually have a life. God, I've had enough of this. I've got other things to do with my time then washing dishes!' Holy burst out viciously.

Poppy gaped at her sister, completely taken aback.

'There's no need to talk to her like that,' Lily interjected.

'This has nothing to do with you Lily,' Holly shouted, 'Would you get _off _my back for once please?'

Lily looked stricken.

'Holly,' Chris said wearily, 'Come on-'

'Don't blame me! She was having a right go at me before you two came in. I'm fed up with it! She's such a little baby, hopeless at schoolwork, always running to Lily when things get too much. You make me sick!' Holly shrieked at her sister stormed upstairs, slamming her bedroom door.

'What happened?' Great Uncle Coop and Phoebe appeared, looking from Poppy, who was now crying, to Lily.

'Holly just being her usual self,' Lily said, shaken, while Phoebe gathered Poppy in her arms in effort to calm her down.

Coop looked down for a moment and sighed.

'She can't help it,' He said, 'it's just her way of dealing with things,'

At this Poppy wailed even harder.

'She doesn't have to be quite so heartless though, does she?' Chris asked angrily as he started to make some coffee for his aunt and uncle.

Phoebe rolled her eyes.

'You wouldn't have won any good behaviour awards when you were a teenager,' She reminded him, 'You were the blueprint for John Bender in _The_ _Breakfast Club,_'

'It hasn't been an easy time for any of us,' Coop said evenly, always the diplomat, 'We've got to make allowances for her,'

'I wish that Holly would remember that we're trying to get over it too.' Said Lily gently.

'And I wish that she would realise how special we are, so that we can prepare ourselves for anything that could be coming in the future,' Poppy said angrily, speaking as if she were much older than her fourteen years, 'She can't just go around ignoring the fact we have powers. We're going to be the most powerful witches in the world. We need to prepare. How are we going to be able to help all those innocent people when we're not even helping each other?'

Coop stared at her, a sadness coming over him.

It had been three months since their parents passed. It had been one of the worst attacks to hit the family. Well, the second to worst. The worst had been the battle just before Wyatt had left to go to college twenty years ago, in which Piper, Paige, Leo and their daughter Melinda, had died. The three Halliwell sisters, Wyatt's mother Piper, Paige and Phoebe had kept demons forces at bay after the destruction of the Triad thirty-six years ago. But breakaway demon forces, gathering momentum in the consecutive years, attempted to wipe out the Halliwell family in one swift comeback, and very nearly succeeded. If it were not for Coop's clever intuition, forcing Wyatt, Chris, his wife Phoebe and his own children to flee, the Halliwell line would never have survived.

Although the battle had affected everyone, it had left more scars on Chris than anyone could imagine. It had turned him into a hardened vigilante, struggling in vain to try and avenge the deaths of his mother, father, aunt and sister, brutally killing and torturing the whole line or sect of whatever demon he came across. Wyatt was the opposite. He wanted nothing to do with magic, renounced his gift, changed his name and ran away to college, leaving behind a severely fragile fifteen-year-old Chris. He managed to escape his past at Columbia to study law and graduated at top of his class. Ivy Mancini was his salvation. They met at a party, she was an art major at NYU, and two years later they were married. They moved into her parents tiny apartment and were expecting their first child, their lives 'perfect'. Then came the shock of a lifetime. After walking in the kitchen one day to see her summoning some milk from the fridge for her coffee, it appeared that Ivy was also a witch and had known exactly who Wyatt was the moment they had met three years ago, but didn't know how to tell him when he had so fiercely rejected all forms of magic back when his parents were killed. With her help, Ivy made Wyatt come to terms with what had happened, and was adamant that he should try and make amends with his brother and only surviving aunt. After completing his law degree they, and their one-year-old daughter Lily, moved to back to his hometown of San Francisco. Phoebe was with them at the beginning, but it took him to build bridges with his brother Chris. Wyatt opened a successful law practice, Ivy became an art teacher and he tried to make his daughters' live a normal life. Under no circumstance would his three beautiful daughters learn their birthright because it was only littered with death and destruction. Ivy resented her husband for this. Ivy and Phoebe had always said that the girls must understand their powers, know of them, so that they could protect themselves. Wyatt was foolish, bound their powers, and tried to protect them, but it was no use. The moment he and Ivy died, the girls' powers were unleashed. With Poppy's wise words, Coop thought that it was almost as if Ivy were speaking to them from beyond, she was so much like her mother it was sometimes comforting to know that Ivy had left some imprint of her wonderful self on earth.

'Sit down, Chris,' Aunt Phoebe said taking charge, snapping Coop out of his trip down memory lane. She noticed Chris's increasing bad mood wasn't helping the preparation of breakfast, 'I'll do those,' She said, taking over frying his eggs.

'But what about Hol-' Lily began.

'She'll come down when she's ready,' Phoebe interrupted, then smiled, 'How could she resist the smell of bacon?'

Poppy finally stopped crying when she finished her breakfast. She sat forlornly at the table reading Holly's TeenVOGUE, and Lily had started to do the dishes, hating to see a reason for another argument just before Chris left for work. Coop had started on the morning paper, his signature coffee cup fixed in his hand.

Their calm was interrupted by the phone. Coop quickly picked it up and went into the other room to talk. Phoebe left after that, saying that she had to run a few errands but she'd be back later. The doorbell rang the moment Phoebe exited the kitchen.

Poppy looked over at Lily expectantly, but she held up her soap sodden arms apologetically.

Poppy groaned at slumped off to the hall.

She opened the front door and was greeted with a tall Latino boy standing nervously on the threshold. He looked vaguely familiar, and expecting him to be for Holly, she frowned darkly and called upstairs.

'Er, no...actually I was wondering whether I could speak to Lily?' The boy said hesitantly, smiling.

Poppy looked at him in some surprise and invited him in. It was normally Holly who all the boys called for.

She led him into the kitchen, where Lily had started to clean the stove. 'Hey Lil' He said, trying not to look at her beautiful behind as it was bent down in scouring the cupboards for cleaning materials.

Lily spun around in alarm.

'Scott! What are you doing here?' She was so surprised, in all the years she had known him, Scott had never called in. He lived all the way across town and was only just learning how to drive.

'I was wondering how you were...' Scott said awkwardly, 'y'know after the exam yesterday,'

After the words exited his mouth, he flushed at how lame they sounded.

Lily raised an eyebrow. He had travelled three buses to ask her that? What was wrong with the phone?

'OK I guess, I don't have Holly's talent for English…'

'That was Holly right?' He asked, 'Who let me in?'

'No, Poppy my youngest sister,'

'Ah right well, erm, I was wondering whether you want to come out with me tonight.' Scott blurted out.

Oh my God! Lily thought as she stared at him, Myra was right!

'What is it?' Poppy's voice echoed in her mind, 'What did Myra think?'

Go away! Lily hissed at her sister.

'Um,' She said, thinking hard. Although she wasn't remotely interested in Scott romantically, she couldn't help but think a night out might do her some good. Help her get her mind of things, as long as he understood there would be nothing more.

'Yeah,' She said finally, 'I'd like to, but just as-'

'Really? That's great! I'll pick you up around seven?' Scott interrupted, looking extremely relieved that the fear of rejection was over. 'Is your uncle home?'

'My uncle?' Lily asked, taken aback.

'Yeah...Chris right? The lawyer? I heard you talking to Myra about him taking over head-ownership of Marston and Butler after your Dad died,'

'Oh, well, yeah, it's Halliwell and Butler now. He's just left for work though...'

'Oh!' She couldn't help but notice Scott look a little put out by this, 'Well, I'll see you later,'

Lily led him to the door.

'Yeah, sure,' She said, extremely confused.

Lily went back into the house. Wow, a boy had asked her out. It didn't make that much sense though. Myra got on better with Scott than she and did, they had stuff in common and did the same extra-curriculars. She really ought to have paid more attention to him, Lily thought guiltily.

Poppy was looking at her suspiciously as she entered the living room.

'Spill.' She said getting up and folding her arms.

'That was Scott.' Lily said sitting down and turning on the T.V innocently.

'And?' Poppy said impatiently.

'And that's all you need to know.' Said Lily, laughing.

* * *

><p><em>Phew! Sorry this has been a long chapter! Needed to answer a few questions and get a few things out there. Next few chapters more characters will be introduced, including the romance plot! There will also be a steady shift in tone as well, so it won't all be so angst. Thanks so much for reading! Please review. <em>


	4. Chapter 4

Holly remained in her bedroom all day and then vanished around four o'clock shutting the front door as silently as she could. She had avoided having any contact with her family, but she left a note saying that she was going to her friend Alexi's house in order to spare a grilling when she got home. It was found later by Poppy, who handed it grudgingly to her uncle to relieve him of his growing panic. Chris just shook his head in disbelief and looked as if he would have smiled if he weren't so pissed at her. Poppy was setting the table for dinner by the time Lily came downstairs, ready for her date with Scott.

She looked absolutely stunning. Her long dark hair, with a few bangs framing her face, was swept back into a coiled knot at the nape of her neck with a pearl clasp that had once been her mothers. Her brown almond shaped eyes were highlighted with dark eyeliner and mascara. She was wearing loose Breton top with long sleeves that flattered her collarbone and skinny black ankle grazer jeans with black pumps.

'Wow!' Poppy said, noting how much she looked like their grandmother Piper. She had never met her grandmother, she had died way before she was born, but she had seen pictures and couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance of the willowy beauty and her sister.

Lily smiled self-consciously and went over to the mirror to apply a rose coloured gloss to her lips. She checked the grandfather clock and right on cue, the doorbell rang. She went into the kitchen to say goodbye to her uncle.

'Have a good time!' he said as he followed her back into the hall, 'You've got your cell?'

'I'll be back at one at the latest,' She told him.

'I'm so glad she's got a date!' Phoebe beamed, coming through the door Lily had just exited, 'If anyone needs some fun around here it's you girls,'

'Where's Uncle Coop?' Poppy interrupted, noticing that her great uncle was nowhere to be seen again.

'Oh he's out tonight with Eric,' Phoebe said, following Poppy into the kitchen where glorious smells of pot roast were coming from.

'You still talk to that guy?' Chris asked in surprise, looking up from where he was making some apple pie. He had inherited his mother's culinary skills.

Phoebe scowled.

'Eric is my grandson and your second cousin,' She reminded, 'You would do a whole lot better in your forgiveness crusade if you talked to him once in a while,'

'He's a demon,' Chris said bitterly, his famous temper coming to the surface, 'Forgive _me _if I don't want to talk to someone whose buddies killed my brother and sister and parents...'

'Eric was born a demon, but that doesn't mean he is one,' Phoebe said immediately, hurt and annoyed, 'You were always the more irrational brother, but I thought you'd turned over a new leaf after Wyatt passed away,'

'Just because Wyatt is _dead_,' Chris started, irritated, he hated euphemisms, 'That doesn't mean I'm going to act like him to continue his legacy,'

'You could do with some of Wyatt's sense! You're threatening to expose us all by killing anything that had any connection to the new Triad!' Phoebe cried indignantly, 'You don't think we know where you go late at night when you say you're working? Eric hasn't used demonic power since the age of nine, but you completely take him for granted! He's put his life in danger by joining you on your vengeful quest. You know he has a bounty on his head, you know the price he has to pay for using his powers again,'

'I know all that Pheebs,' Chris said, rolling his eyes, 'Although Wyatt wanted us all to be friends, it's not easy to be pals with someone like Eric...the kid's a maniac,'

'I like Eric,' Poppy interrupted, seizing some baguette from the basket on the table. The conversation about her father was making her upset. 'He's funny. He doesn't go on about bad stuff all the time like you two do,'

Phoebe and Chris caught each other's eye and realised how insensitive they had been to talk about all of this in front of Poppy.

'Where's Holly, Pop?' Phoebe asked in effort to divert the conversation.

'Oh,' Poppy's face fell, 'Probably hanging out with her bo-hunk of a boyfriend,'

Chris's face tightened, but Phoebe burst out laughing.

'Oh, so you still think boys have cooties?' She asked, putting an arm around her shoulder and tickling her, 'I thought that you and Brice were pretty tight?'

'EURGH!' Poppy squealed, laughing hysterically as her great aunt got her in the ribs, 'He's my friend! He's not my _boy friend_!'

'I should hope not!' Chris said unsmilingly, 'I have enough of that with Holly. And now Lily's got interested in boys, you're the only good girl left in the family,'

'Oh your so prehistoric Chris,' Phoebe scorned, 'you're not a girl, so you wouldn't know. You're never too young to be interested in boys. I couldn't have written a successful column for over thirty five years if I didn't know what I was talking about,'

After hours of disjointed conversation, Lily was slowly coming to terms with the fact that things with Scott weren't going well at all. Firstly, the club that he had taken her was littered with people from their school and it felt odd to be out on a 'non-date' with so many familiar faces around. The exchanges between them were flowing easily, on his half of it. All Scott could talk about was himself. Lily had never noticed that about him, and it was really annoying her. Scott kept going on and on about his ambition to become a lawyer and kept asking Lily about her Dad's old law practice and what it was like since her Uncle took over, of which she had no idea because she hadn't set foot there in years. Lily thought this was really tactless and he didn't pick up on the fact that Lily didn't want to talk about her father. His motive for asking her out became crystal clear, and Lily couldn't wait for the night to be over so that she could go home and get away from this selfish idiot. He had made her pay for all of the drinks as well, saying that he was saving up for a week's work experience in a law firm in Seattle.  
>After listening to Scott's tirade on how much he respected entrepreneurial spirit, Lily decided to get another round in just to get away from him.<br>Waiting to be served meant that she had time to properly hear the band. The band was really quite good; they were playing a cover of Pearl Jam's _Daughter, _a song that she really liked. She was just looking at the band when she caught the eye of the lead guitarist in the dim light. He smiled at her but she couldn't place him.  
>'What can I get you?' The weary barman asked a few minutes later, leaning around two guys next to her who were in a heated debate.<br>'Two cokes, please,'

One of the guys next to her started to laugh.

'_Cokes?_ Come on, have a little vodka in that at least,' He said, leaning towards her and taking her wrist, 'I'm buying,' he added, looking her up and down pointedly.

Lily was taken aback.

'Excuse me?'

'_Excuse me_?' He mimicked, and his buddy snorted with unflattering laughter.

'Now, you definitely need some vod. Loosen you up, tight-ass,'

'I'm happy with the cokes thanks,' Lily wished the barman would hurry up and return, this guy was beginning to creep her out.

'I'm sorry, but what's the point in coming to a bar like this to drink soda?' He asked, now putting a hand on her thigh.

'Get off me!' Lily exclaimed, now completely freaked out, grabbing his hand and throwing it back to him.

'Hey come on!' He said, laughing, 'I'm only trying to be nice,' With that he put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer. He reeked of beer and held her so tight it was impossible for her to get free without an obvious struggle.

'Are you OK?' A deep voice asked, 'Are these guys bothering you?

Lily turned to see the lead singer from the band standing behind them.

'Erm, well,' Lily said embarrassedly, 'I'm just waiting for my drinks but -'

'And who are you?' Her unwanted admirer asked the guy rudely.

'I'm Freddy, and I'm pretty sure my friend doesn't need your arm around her,'

Oh God, Lily thought. That's why I recognise him. It was Freddy Whitepath, Brice's older brother and the most popular senior in school. He was defending her and yet they had never spoken to each other before.

'Whoa dude! Who are you, her boyfriend or something?'

'I'm someone who believes intimidating girls to get what you want is pathetic.'

The guy looked like he was about to retaliate but his buddy finally got involved.

'Come on Lance, this joint is boring. Let's head to _The Rock_,'

Not before flipping Freddy off, Lance and his friend left, purposely bumping into Lily and Freddy as they made their way past them towards the exit.

'Are you OK?' Freddy asked again immediately.

'Yeah, thanks,' Lily said, completely mortified with the whole thing, 'You really didn't have to do that.'

'I know,' He said, meeting her eyes.

His eyes were piercing. Direct. Something warm passed between them. Lily struggled to breathe. It was the first time someone had looked at her and really seen her.

It was unnerving.

'Why did you?'

'I have a hero complex.' Freddy said with a crooked grin.

'Here you go,' The barman was back and plonked her two cokes down on the bar.

'I'll get these,' Freddy reached into his back pocket, 'Who's the other drink for?'

'A friend, and please don't, I should be the one buying you a drink,'

'That's all right,' He handed the barman the money, 'I need to get back on stage anyway, our break's almost over. You can buy the next one though,'

With a wink, he touched her shoulder lightly before making his way back through the crowd and on the stage leaving Lily grasping her two cokes completely dumbstruck.

Did that really just happen? Lily thought to herself in wonder. How did he even know her name? If not for Scott she wouldn't even…Oh no! She had forgotten about Scott. Still in a slight daze, she quickly made her way back over to their table.

'What took so long?'

'Sorry,' Lily said, not looking at him, 'There was a slight incident at the bar,'

Instead of asking her if she was all right, Scott just took the coke she bought him without thanks and took a long gulp.  
>'I'm glad I asked you out tonight.' Scott said.<p>

'You are?' She asked wearily.

'How long have we been friends now?'

'About ten years,' Lily said, smiling slightly. She couldn't believe it had taken ten years to suss this guy out.

'Yeah, and it took me that long to ask you out!' Scott said with wonder.

'Yeah, I'm glad we did this. I really needed a change of scenery,' Lily said. Even though the night was a disaster, what with the pervs at the bar and Scott's behaviour, the music was amazing and Freddy's band was playing all her favourite songs. It was almost as if they were in tune with her; rare versions of Bon Iver electronica remixes, British rock classics, feminist riot grrrrl anthems, …it was the only thing that was making her stay.

'Yeah me too,'

Lily sighed. They were back on him again.

'Do you want to dance?' She asked Scott hurriedly, as the band changed tempo and started on an old _Incubus_ number. Anything to get his mind off of himself.

'Sure, though I haven't danced in ages. I used to be pretty good, at least that's what Myra tells me,'

Groaning inwardly, she led Scott to the dance floor. Soon, with the help a few songs, which, if possible, got better and better, the tension almost vanished, though she couldn't help notice Scott glancing at himself in the mirror from time to time through the packed dance-floor.

Near to the end of the evening Lily had gone to the bathroom and left Scott, who seemed to think it was a personal attack on him.

'There you are,' Scott panted as he made his way over to her as she emerged from the ladies restroom, 'I wondered where you were! Leaving me all alone like that!'

But then something happened to interrupt the moment, something, which made Lily's breath get caught in her chest. The band had stopped playing mid-song as a young woman came onto the stage. She was wearing a horrendously slutty outfit, an impossibly short leather mini skirt, which was about three inches in length and a tight leather bra. She began to speak into the audience.

'Do you want to have some fun and get the party really started?' The girl roared into the crowd. And then with a terrible understanding, Lily realised who the girl was.

'Who is that?' Whispered Scott, seeing the horrified look on Lily's face.

'That's my sister!'


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

'What?' Scott gaped at the girl, scanning for familiarities.

There was no mistaking it, the girl was Holly and by the looks of it she was in a complete mess. Her hair was lank and wild and she looked completely wasted; her eyes extremely bloodshot, the make-up was smudged around her eyes and her words were coming out slurred and harsh.

'Give me music!' She screamed to the taken aback bassist.

The bassist just stared blankly and leant forward to whisper something to her.

'No!' She shouted at him. 'I'm fine thanks, screw you anyway. I don't need music. I can dance on my own,'

Lily wanted to smack her. Her little sister was completely out of control. Her arms were waving all over the place and she was staggering around in which Lily recognised as her best leather boots.

'Just what is she doing?' Scott made a face like there was a bad smell under his nose. 'She's totally embarrassing me,'

'I've got to help her,' Lily said desperately to Scott. He nodded reluctantly, still wearing that look of disgust that Lily wanted to punch off his face.

Lily struggled through the heaving crowd but Holly fell off the stage before she could reach it. Amid the waves of ear-splitting laughter, Freddy Whitepath dropped his guitar and rushed over to where Lily had grabbed Holly, heaved her to her feet and was pulling her away from the horde of people that had gathered around her sister.

'Is she OK?' Freddy asked, trying to help Lily as she tried to get Holly towards the bathroom, 'She didn't hit her head did she?'

'How should I know?' Lily snapped, realising that Scott was nowhere to be seen, all the tension involving her feelings towards that boy emerging, 'I didn't even realise she was here!'

'Let me GO!' Holly was shouting, struggling like crazy to throw off the person who was holding her.

'Holly, come on, we've got to get you out of here,' Lily groaned frantically, aware that the whole club was watching them as Holly succeeded in getting away from her.

'I'm _fine _thank you!' Holly yelled then promptly collapsed on the floor.

'Don't worry, I've got her,' Freddy told Lily, picking Holly up and pushed his way through the crowd better than Lily had been able to manage, 'She's been here all night. I saw her with Danny Greenborough earlier; I've no idea where he's gone, though. Thank God you're here Lil,'

Oh God, Lily thought, if Danny was involved the news was going to be all over school tomorrow.

'You say Danny just left her, when she was like this?' Lily asked, the bad opinion she had of him before not improving one bit.

'Lily, is that you?' Holly was completely out of it, and gazing at her sister with a look of utter disbelief, 'What are you doing here?' In order to get a closer look at Lily, Holly slid out of Freddy's arms and stumbled towards her.

'Yes it's me,' Lily told her through gritted teeth, just as Holly fell backwards into a queue of boys waiting for the men's room, 'God Holly, how much have you had to drink?'

'Here,' Freddy offered, heaving Holly on his back and going straight into the girls bathroom, 'we should get her somewhere quiet,'

'Thanks,' Lily said gratefully as he deposited Holly gently down onto the deserted bathroom floor. Her head was spinning. Why was the senior Class President and the star of the athletics team, not to mention a member of the best band in school, helping her out? Again?

'Great boyfriend she has,' He said darkly, looking down at Holly. 'Leave me alone Lily!' Holly gabbled furiously, stumbling to her feet and pushing Lily into the row of sinks, 'you've ruined everything!'

Her head was swaying from side to side and her unfocussed eyes were knotted together as if she was having trouble with her eyesight, but the look of utter anger was plain enough. Holly pushed her way past Freddy in an effort to get to the door, but the struggle had the reverse effect. She became unbalanced and toppled over onto the floor.

'Oops!' She giggled.

Lily stared at her, appalled. She had never thought she would see the day where Holly got into a state like this. Normally it was Holly, the passionate one, and the proud, determined sister who never got drunk in fear that her reputation would be tarnished. She couldn't believe Holly would actively take part in reducing herself to this.

Pushing her anger aside, she kneeled down next to her fifteen-year-old sister and looked straight into her face.

'Tell me what happened.' She asked calmly.

'Its got nothing to do with you!' Holly automatically snapped, eyes flashing dangerously.

Lily sighed. She was so tired of being responsible.

'It's all right Hol, it's only me. I can help you,'

'Just piss off, Lily,' Holly bit out viciously, 'Stop trying to act like Mom or Dad...you'll never be able to carry it off,'

'How could you say something like that to me?' Lily asked her, growing upset despite the fact that she knew Holly had little control over what she was saying.

Holly remained silent and looked away.

After a few moments, Lily tried again.

'What happened?'

Holly gulped and closed her eyes. She opened her mouth and a slur of words came chasing out.

'Danny's such a...I can't believe he would…Oh god-'

'What happened Holly?' Lily persisted gently.

'I feel like such an idiot,' Holly said miserably, 'I came here tonight because I heard that Danny was here with another girl…'

'_What_?'

'I saw him at the bar with Chelsea Simons, and I got so mad. But when I went up to them, he kept offering me drinks and…then I can't really remember anything after that...' Holly gabbled, 'Whoa, your face looks funny. Hey, is that mom's clip? Why is it on your face?'

Lily gave Freddy a panicked look, but he looked grim.

'What?' She asked, reading his face.

'I think he spiked her drink,'

'HE WHAT?'

'LILY!' Holly moaned, throwing her hands over her head, 'Stop shouting! Oh no-' Her words were cut short as Holly gave a retching sound and dashed into a cubicle to throw up.

Lily followed her in and gently combed her hair away from her face with her fingers.

It took a few minutes for Holly to finish, by that time she looked exhausted and tears of pain and anger were flowing from her eyes.

'Here,' Said Freddy softly.

He handed Lily a cup of water, which Holly drained in seconds.

'I'll get you another one,' He said and exited the bathroom.

They went over to the basins and Holly splashed her face with water.

'I can't believe that jerk!' Lily shook her head, 'Why the hell are you with someone like that?'

'I'm not with him anymore,' Holly hiccoughed, 'He dumped me. That's why I was dancing on the stage…to show I was over him,' Her lip trembled, 'I thought he loved me,'

'No,' Lily said, putting her arms around her, 'He really didn't. I'm so sorry Hol,'

Holly began to sob into her shoulder.

'How could I have been so stupid? He only wanted me for one thing and I realised it the moment I saw him with Chelsea. Oh God, what's Uncle Chris going to say when he finds out about all this?'

'He won't find out where you've been,' Lily said, 'because no one's going to tell him,'

Freddy appeared again. His face grew sympathetic as he saw Holly weeping into Lily's shoulder.

'Are you OK?' He mouthed to Lily.

Lily nodded, despite feeling it was the oddest question.

'Ohhh,' Holly groaned.

'What is it?' Lily asked urgently.

'I got wasted in front of Freddy Whitepath as well. Good one,' she said, unaware that Freddy was in the room.

Lily fought back the laughter and Freddy smiled embarrassedly, looking away

'He knows it's not your fault,' Lily said, 'Danny was the one who got you like this, you didn't know what you're doing,'

'Yeah well, all the same...oh no!' She broke free of Lily's embrace and ran into the toilet again.

'Here,' Freddy said softly, handing Lily a cup of water, 'you look like you need it. It's 100% water, you don't need to worry,'

Lily gave him weak smile.

'Thanks,' She said, rubbing her head. She was still furious with Danny, 'Is Danny out there anywhere?'

Freddy shook his head.

'He's done his famous disappearing act, the one he usually does at parties when everyone gets drunk from the keg he's brought and there's clearing up to do,'

'I can't wait to get my hands on him,'

'He's not worth it,' Freddy said, 'I think Holly knows that now. She's worth a million of a jerk like him,'

'Why on earth would he spike her drink?' Lily mumbled, 'Does he get kicks out of her…I can't believe...'

'Lily,' He noticed the anxiety in her face, 'you know she's drunk don't you? All that stuff about you trying to replace your parents, she doesn't mean it...'

'You know about my parents?' Lily asked but then realised how stupid a question that was. The murder had been so high profile that it had been in all the papers for weeks and everybody knew what happened (minus the fact they were killed by demons).

'Yeah,' He said softly, his dark blue eyes warm with understanding, 'after it happened Poppy was over our house a lot. I think you're handling it amazingly. I see you around school sometimes. I wonder how on earth you can keep it together, it must be really hard'

Lily stared at him in for a few moments, touched. She didn't know anyone took the time to consider how she was feeling, let alone from somebody like Freddy.

She then groaned, remembering something.

'Oh God, if this gets around…'

He shook his head.

'Don't worry,' He said, 'Everyone's so drunk they'll have forgotten by Monday. And maybe someone, don't know who, might even make up an even wilder story that'll be all over school,' he said pointedly, 'maybe involving my good old friend Gabe, a shark and fifteen tonnes of strawberry jello'

Lily gave him a grateful smile.

'Come on, you look beat. I think we should get you two home,'

Lily went into Holly's cubicle and found that she was slumped against the wall.

'HOLLY!' Lily shrieked, but it turned out she was only sleeping. After waking her up, Freddy and Lily each helped Holly out of the bathroom.

'You came with a friend didn't you?' Freddy asked, 'Where are they?'

As if by magic, the moment they were outside Scott pounced on them, looking relieved at the sight of them.

'God, I thought I'd lost you,' He said, 'everyone keeps on staring at me because standing outside of the girls bathroom. So you all done in there?'

'Yeah Holly's-'

'Good, so, you ready to dance again?'

Lily was gobsmacked. Before she could even begin to think of an angry retort, Freddy beat her to it.

'Um, dude?' Freddy said, raising an eyebrow and looking completely unimpressed, 'If you could get over yourself for one minute you'd realise that Holly isn't feeling so hot, so I guess neither of them are up to much dancing-'

'-Well, excuse me!' Scott blustered, face going bright red with embarrassment and anger, 'I don't know where you get off talking to me like that-'

'-I don't know where you get off being such an inconsiderate hack,' Freddy said calmly, 'I'll drive you both home,' He added to Lily.

'Oh no,' She said at once, feeling flustered with the amount of attention she was receiving from him, 'You don't need to...your band-'

'They'll be fine, they're used to something cropping up, I don't think we've played a full set in years. And I'd rather help get you and Holly home,'

'No thanks,' Scott interrupted, glaring at Freddy, 'I can sort my own date out,'

'Oh,' Freddy said, starting to laugh, 'Here was me thinking you weren't capable of caring about anyone but yourself,'

'I'm not having my date run off with some other guy,'

Lily couldn't believe it.

'It's too late to start acting like the perfect gentleman.

I've got to get my sister home. I'll just see you in school, OK?'

'But I was having such a great time,' Scott said, flabbergasted at her audacity.

'Look,' Freddy interjected, taking Lily's hand and pulling her away from him, 'Get a clue would you? Your date's sister's been drugged. I doubt she's going to want to hold your hand for the rest of the night while her sister's weaving in and out of consciousness,'

Scott looked as if he'd been smacked in the face. Lily desperately wanted to tell him that this was anything but a date, but knew that it wasn't really something that should come up now.

'C'mon,' Freddy told Lily, 'my car's out on the street. You still with us Hol?' He asked loudly. Holly seemed to have fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Hardly daring to think about the bizarreness of the situation, Lily allowed herself to take Freddy's outstretched hand and be pulled by him through the crowd and outside. When Freddy had opened the door to his old Toyota, however, Holly suddenly had a surge of energy and darted across the road.

'HOLLY!' Lily exclaimed, heart in her mouth as she saw Holly dodge between cars and beeping horns. Lily leapt after her and saw her sister stagger towards some guy standing outside of the club, who was evidently smoking a doobie.

'You complete and utter bastard!' Holly shouted, 'How dare you leave me! How could you make me act like a fool in front of everyone? God you're such a jerk!'

Instead of attacking some random guy, Lily realised that her sister was actually shouting at Danny. Freddy and Lily ran over to her to try and restrain her, but too late, Holly had punched Danny hard in the face. Freddy let out a bark of laughter but Danny yelled in agony and collapsed onto the sidewalk, rolling around in pain.

Lily grabbed her sister before Danny could do anything else to her and with Freddy's help, they were soon cruising back towards the place Lily had been aching to return to all night…home.

* * *

><p>After Freddy had dropped them off, Lily told Holly to wait at the back door. She unlocked the front door and crept into the house. She dumped her bag in the hall and let out a sigh of relief, then rushed into the kitchen, towards the back door, where she met Chris getting a glass of water from the sink. She stopped short at the sight of him.<p>

'Hey, did you have a good time?' He asked, taking her panicked look for one of shame at being home so late.

'Yeah,' Lily said unenthusiastically, feigning tiredness, 'Completely zonked out though,'

'I'm glad you had fun,' Chris said, smiling, 'Get some sleep or you'll be late for those exams,' he winked and headed up stairs.

Once sure he was gone, Lily pulled the back door open and Holly came tumbling in.

'Thanks.' Holly muttered and plonked herself down in a chair.

'Do you want me to stay down here with you?' Lily asked. Holly had calmed down in the ride home and had stopped shaking and crying.

'If you want,' She shrugged, 'God, I'm so angry I-'

'At least you're out of the relationship now,' Lily consoled, taking a seat next to her, 'Before something really terrible happened,'

'What would Mom and Dad've said?' Holly asked, laughing bitterly, 'If they saw me going out with a guy like that?'

'They'd have understood,' Lily said, squeezing her hand, 'they wouldn't have judged you. You saw sense in the end.'

'Yeah, whatever. Dad would've grounded me until I'm thirty,' Holly smiled, 'He wasn't completely different from Uncle Chris, not really,'

Lily smiled. Holly was the closest to Wyatt out of the three sisters and sometimes, if she was completely honest with herself, Lily resented her for it. No matter what Lily did, receive an A for a really hard piece of school work, her father would just smile and then go and then enthusiastically join in on soccer practice with Holly in the yard. But despite being a daddy's girl, Holly couldn't get away with anything. Wyatt was always on her back if she so much as got a D in her English Pop Quiz.

'I'm sorry I ruined your date.' Holly said ruefully, 'I heard Scott come over to the house earlier-'

'Yeah well,' Lily interrupted, putting her head in her hands and rubbing her temples, 'I'm glad you did. If you didn't I wouldn't have known how selfish and insecure Scott was, let alone so conceited and-,'

'He is a bit of a dweeb,' Holly interjected, 'You can do better,'

'You're one to talk,' Lily laughed, 'and it wasn't a date,'

'Glad to hear it,' Holly said heavily.

Lily put her arm around her sister and Holly leant her head against Lily's shoulder. They sat like that for a few moments.

'I can't believe Freddy helped us out. I've never even spoken to him before,' Lily murmured in wonder.

'Oh, I talk to him all the time,' Holly said, then a smirk came onto her face, 'He always asks after you and Pop, although why he wants to know how Poppy's doing when she basically lives at their house I have no idea,'  
>'What?' Lily choked. She was on his radar? 'When do you guys talk?'<p>

'We sometimes see each other at parties,' Holly shrugged, 'But yeah, he seems to know a lot about you. He asked me how you were finding tutoring,'

'That's so strange…'  
>'I know, but it's not really so creepy, I mean, he's so considerate and caring about everyone. He knows everyone at school…I think <em>everyone <em>is in love with him! When we're out at parties or whatever, he always has a big flock of girls follow him everywhere,'

'If you think that you're going to be partying-' Lily started hotly, but Holly cut her off.

'Are you mad?' Holly exclaimed, 'I'm totally going to be a good girl from now on. Which is now going to be possible since bad influences like Danny are out of my life. I'm so sorry I freaked you out,'

'You're my sister,' Lily said, 'Nothing you do freaks me out. I love you, I'm here to look after you,'

'Where would I be without you, Lil?' She rubbed her head.

'Do you want some aspirin?'

'No, I won't risk it.' Holly said quickly.

'Well, you're going to have a terrible headache in the morning.' Lily told her.

'Don't state the obvious,' Holly muttered and Lily smiled.

She seemed to be back to her usual snappy self.

'Uncle Chris was going to send a search party out for you just before I left.' Lily said seriously.

'I know I shouldn't have gone out.' Holly admitted quickly, surprised at how guilty she was feeling about sneaking out on her fascist uncle.

'I think I better go to bed.' Holly said at last, 'Thanks for saving the day,' She gave Lily a kiss and they both tiptoed their way silently up the stairs.

Lily undressed quickly and climbed into her bed. Even though she was aching to go to sleep, so many thoughts were buzzing through her head. Holly, her parents, Scott and Daniel Greenborough. But it was Freddy Whitepath who was the complete shock of the night, coming to her aid with his beautiful understanding smile and warm voice. It was because she was too busy thinking about him that made Lily take ages to finally drift into a troubled sleep. She hadn't even thanked him…


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

'Hey Pop?' Holly whispered outside her bedroom door.

'Holly?' Poppy asked, opening her door with an expression that was half taken-aback, half wary. Holly couldn't blame her surprise, she couldn't even remember the last time she had set foot in Poppy's room, whether here or in their old house.

'Can I come in?' She asked quietly. It was early, but Holly knew that Poppy awake. She had always woken up around six from when they were kids since Poppy never wanted to miss any Loony Tunes.

'Um, OK,' Poppy raised an eyebrow. Sure enough, Holly saw Poppy's muted TV tuned into the Simpsons. With all the changes that had gone on lately Holly was felt surprised to be comforted by the idea that her kid sister hadn't changed that much. Poppy's room was the smallest in the house. It used to be Chris's nursery but Poppy had made the most out of the small space by covering the walls with posters from her favourite films and TV shows and pictures of their parents. Holly took a seat at Poppy's desk while Poppy hovered uncertainly by the door.

Holly took a deep breath, deliberately trying not to look at the picture next to Poppy above the light switch, one of her parents hugging her and her sister's at Christmas a few years ago. She remembered getting angry at her father for buying her the wrong soccer shoes.

'Pop,' Holly said uneasily, realising that her temper went back much further than she had really thought, 'I want to say sorry for how much of a bitch I've been towards you lately,'

Her younger sister's eyes grew wide.

'No I mean it,' Holly continued, 'Really, I know you're having a rough time in school...I shouldn't make it worse. I'll get everyone to stop making fun of you, OK?'

'Why?' Poppy asked, 'I mean, why are you apologising? It's not like you care,'

'Of course I care about you,' Holly said guiltily, not looking at her, talking more to Sarah Michelle Gellar on her sister's _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _poster. Poppy always loved girly superheroes and Buffy was her favourite. She had always needed someone to look up to. Holly was going to make sure that she was someone her sister could look up to properly now. Enough was enough. 'You're my little sister. I shouldn't treat you so badly. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want you to resent me…but you annoying sometimes,' Holly added light heartedly.

'I know...' Poppy agreed, knowing how difficult it was for Holly to eat humble pie, 'and thanks I guess.'

'Come on,' Holly said, 'let's go and get some breakfast, I'm starving,'

Poppy's stomach rumbled in unison.

'Hey look at that!' Holly laughed, 'We're actually agreeing on something!'

'And I don't,' Poppy said as they made their way quietly down the stairs to hunt for breakfast.

'Don't what?'

'Resent you,' Poppy said reluctantly, 'I mean, OK maybe I'm jealous that you have a load of friends –'

'They're not really my friends,' Holly said bitterly, 'To be honest, at the end of the day, I'd rather be closer to you than Alexi. At least you have a good soul. Sometimes, when I'm with Alexi and she's tormenting a Freshman I wonder how the hell I ended up in that situation.'

'No one can make you do something you don't want to do.' Poppy pointed out gently.

'I know,' Holly said, 'I'm beginning to realise that.'

Holly's new attitude continued all through breakfast. She didn't have a back chatted remark for anyone, and although Great Uncle Coop and Aunt Phoebe looked grateful for the new Holly, Chris couldn't help but wonder what had spurred the transformation.

They finished breakfast and Coop started to clear the table. Holly leapt up from her chair and said; 'I'll help you,'

This caused Chris, who was leaving for work, to give Holly a rare smile before he went out of the door. When girls were about to leave the kitchen, Phoebe called them back.

'What's your plan for today?' She asked the sisters.

'Well I thought I might go back to bed, I been up since five and I've got a thumping headache.' Holly answered before anyone else got a chance. Poppy saw Lily shoot Holly a sympathetic look but before Poppy could wonder about it Phoebe had turned to her and Lily.

'What about you two?' Phoebe asked Lily and Poppy.

'Well I thought I had better get on with some homework, I don't want to fall behind since I didn't do any yesterday.' Lily said reluctantly, then realised what a work-obsessed freak she sounded like and scowled slightly.

'Poppy, hang on,' Phoebe called, just as Poppy began to leave the table, 'Do you want to do something with me today? There's something I think you might like to see,'

Poppy, who had been planning on calling Brice to ask if he wanted to go to the park and play some basketball, looked at her in surprise.

'Yeah? What is it?'

'Oh, just a certain book I think might interest you'.

'And this book's ours?' Poppy asked Phoebe in wonder as she shut the huge volume.

'When you're all eighteen,' She said, smiling at the amazement on Poppy's face.

It turned out Phoebe wanted to show her a part of their witch legacy. It was a big book of spells called _'The Book of Shadows',_ and it had belonged to their family since their ancestor, Melinda Warren, had recorded all of her spells before she was burnt at the stake over four hundred years ago.

Even Holly was interested in the book. She and Lily had come downstairs and found Phoebe, Coop and Poppy in the living room rifling through the pages. In it contained spells, profiles about demons and warlocks each Halliwell had encountered and a written history of what Phoebe, Great Aunt Paige and their grandmother had been through since discovering they were witches.

Holly was initially against the idea of embracing her powers after seeing all the hurt it had caused her family. But after listening to Poppy reading the book, and discovering all the good they had done, and all the friends they had made, she was beginning to see that having a magical powers such as hers might be...well…useful. Although she still wasn't ready to use them yet, she understood a bit more of what they were about.

'You all right Lily?' Phoebe asked.

Lily had been silent for the last hour, she couldn't take it all in. After reading about Darklighters, Avatars, Whitelighters, Wedigoes, Mummies, Grimlocks, Vampires, Ghosts, Warlocks and Demons, she was bogged down with the fact that after they were all eighteen, she and her sisters would have to tackle all of these.

'Just a bit…well...overwhelmed by all of this,' She admitted. She got up to get a glass of water from the kitchen, 'I mean,' She called, 'You and your sisters could never escape your destiny or lead normal lives,'

'I know,' Phoebe said, voice catching in her throat 'But, even after the deaths of Paige, Piper and Prue and my daughters, I still wouldn't turn back time. I'd rather have them dead, knowing that they fought to their last breath, than known that those monsters killed them and they were powerless,'

Coop reached out and took his wife's hand. The deaths of their daughters had been horrendous, perhaps because they had been natural or accidental and thereby had no chance of magical intervention. Violet, their youngest daughter, had leukaemia and didn't live past the age of four. Kim, their eldest, their shining star, powerful, died in a car crash with her husband Greg and their other daughter Isobel three years ago.

'Well, I want to protect myself,' Poppy said, giving Holly who was sitting across from her a disdainful look. 'I want to be able to control my powers,'

'Well,' Phoebe laughed, 'You've come to the right woman,'

'The book's amazing,' Lily said, coming back to the living room, 'D'you think my Mom would have had one?'

Phoebe nodded.

'Yes' She said, 'All magical families have a book of spells of some sort. I guess the Mancini family would have a book somewhere in New York. It is probably still with her family somewhere.'

'What power's did Mom have?' Lily asked. It felt so weird to think that her mother was a witch too. She had never seen her parents perform magic.

'Telekinesis and glammouring,' Phoebe explained to blank faces, 'Oh...' She laughed, 'The ability to summon objects to her at a command and change her appearance at will,'

'Wow,' Lily breathed, 'She had cool powers.'

'Much better than ours,' Holly sniffed.

'Yeah, who wants to read minds and freeze things?' Poppy grumbled. 'I'd rather have your powers Holly,'

Holly looked up. She flicked her brown hair out of her blue eyes, her expression amused.

'You can have them, I don't want them. I never did,'

'Oh Holly,' Phoebe had thought seeing the book might have made Holly change her mind about not embracing her gift, 'You can't just swap your powers around. It doesn't work like that. They were given to you for a reason, you have to respect that'.

'Well, I wish I had something a lot more exciting, like shooting fire balls out of my hands, like that guy from the X-Men,' Poppy leapt out of the her seat and jumped around, mimicking a battle scene and pretending to shoot fire out of her hands.

She let out a little scream when a ball of fire _did _actually come into her palm and shoot across the room onto Holly's t-shirt, who yelped and seized Lily's glass of water and flung it over herself.

The girls stared wildly around, trying to locate the source of the fire, when a voice came through the room.

'That's more a demon's power anyway, you wouldn't want that,' someone laughed from the back door.

All five pairs of eyes all shot to the kitchen door. Leaning nonchalantly against the doorjamb to the kitchen stood a tall man in his early twenties with short, black hair, green eyes and a wicked smile set in a face of high cheekbones and tanned skin. The guy was wearing completely messed up jeans, a black t-shirt that didn't quite hide the set of washboard abs hidden under it, a leather jacket was slung over his free shoulder and his legs were crossed at the ankles displaying a battered pair of motorcycle boots.

'Oh, Eric, it's only you,' Coop sighed with relief.

Phoebe narrowed her eyes.

'What have I _told _you about using your powers on the girls?' She hissed.

Eric Halliwell rolled his eyes.

'Relax _Grams_, it's not like they're after me anymore,' Eric was the adopted son of their daughter Kim, an ex-demon who was made good. He was still a child when Kim adopted him, but when Kim died, he became closer and closer to his grandparents, who loved him like one of their own, regardless of the fact that he still possessed demonic powers. If he used his powers over a prolonged period of time, his old demon family would swoop down and probably kill him for betraying the demonic cause and working for the side of the good. Rather than scaring Eric into submission, this only served to add to his reckless lifestyle…he lived to push himself to the limit and killed demons left right and centre for kicks. Needless to say, this pleased his grandmother no end.

Eric came into the room, rolling his eyes and then winked at his cousins, who all felt butterflies swirl around the pits of their stomachs.

'Man, he is so hot,' Poppy thought to Lily. 'I think there might be a pool of water at my feet, I might've wet myself when he winked at me,'

'He winked at _you?' _Lily laughed.

'I think the girls are thinking about me,' Eric grinned, dropping down onto one of the sofas, 'Come on, fess up. It's rude to telepathically converse behind someone's back,'

'Just wondering what kind of trousers you think you're wearing, what are they anyway..._leggings_?' Holly asked, raising an eyebrow. Even though she wasn't part of Lily and Poppy's conversation she could get the drift of what they had been saying to each other.

'Good thinking Hols' Poppy said to her sister silently.

Holly smirked.

'I've _told _you so many times to throw them away,' Phoebe sighed at her grandson.

'You want me to set fire to them?' He asked, unzipping his trousers and making to pull them down.

Poppy's breath got caught in her chest.

'NO! What are you doing? You sex maniac!' Phoebe exclaimed.

Eric laughed. It was a warm laugh that swept over the sisters like a summer breeze. Poppy and Lily were grateful for his sudden appearance. Eric always made the room spring to life.

'You're _twenty years old _Eric Halliwell! You are too old to be playing these games!' Phoebe said in a hard voice, 'Now what are you doing here? I thought you were working today?'

He shrugged.

'Nah,' He said, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa Lily and Poppy were sat on, 'the auto-shop is boring, I wanted to see what everyone is up to. Little did I know my favourite cousins were home!' He winked at them all, 'How you doing Lil? I've missed not seeing you at the garage,'

'School's started,' Lily explained, 'But maybe I could pop by at lunch sometime, feed you some proper food?'

'I'd like that,' Eric grinned, 'I miss your rants about healthy eating,'

Lily laughed.

At that moment, in a swirl of blue light, Chris appeared in the centre of the room. The sisters yelped and jumped out to their skin, staring at him. Apart from Holly, they hadn't seen him orb before.

'Chris,' Phoebe got up in alarm, reading his face, 'What is it?'

'The Obtainers,' Chris spat angrily, beginning to pace around the room. His rage seemed to be radiating off of him.

'You're kidding?' Eric burst out, jumping to his feet.

Chris shook his head.

'I wish I was,' He said, 'God I can't believe it! I can't have one day when my past doesn't come to bite me on the ass,'

'Heard it from the big man himself?' Eric asked.

'He wants _us_ to get rid of them,' Chris let out a short laugh.

'Who wants them to get rid of them?' Poppy questioned Lily telepathically, but Lily looked nonplussed.

'What are Obtainer demons?' Poppy asked.

'They're in the book,' Phoebe said, handing the book of shadows over to the girls.

'The Book of Shadows?' Chris asked, momentarily pausing from his pacing and looking at his aunt curiously.

'I thought they might want to know a little bit about their history,' Phoebe said.

'It's page 212,' Chris told them, an odd nostalgic look coming over his face, 'I know the book like the back of my hand. It was my bible when I was growing up,'

Poppy and Holly bent over the Book of Shadows and flicked through the pages until they found the page dedicated to that demon.

'The Obtainers,' Poppy read out loud, 'a fierce demon clan who survive feeding off the souls of innocent children. On earth since the Crusades, the clan rose to power during the…blah blah blah. There's no vanquishing potion…'

'Don't worry,' Eric told her, 'We've dealt with them before…yeah Chris, how _did _they come back? I don't think I'm wrong when I thought we already dealt with these pricks,' he shot angrily at him.

Chris sighed.

'We did. As you know, with Helio vanquished, the clan became fragmented and started to die out-'

'Don't talk to me as if I'm an idiot, Chris, I know all about demon politics,' Eric snapped irritably, causing Holly to smirk, 'I know more about demons than you ever could. I don't need a history lesson,'

'Well, looks like they've got a new leader,' Chris said bluntly, looking knowingly at Eric, 'even worse than Helio...'

Eric seemed to guess who it was, causing him to swear colourfully.

'Right,' Eric said, removing himself from where he had sat down on an arm of a chair, 'Well, lucky I'm in the mood to for a good one on one with Barbas,'

'Don't you dare!' Phoebe exclaimed, leaping up from where she was sitting, 'You know what Ulysses says, you know the rules,'

'I'm going as well,' Chris said, 'Nothing's unwarrantable is going to happen, I promise Pheebs,'

'Who's Ulysses?' Poppy asked curiously.

Coop, Chris, Phoebe and Eric all shared a significant look, but no one answered her.

'Eric,' Phoebe continued, as she saw him place a hand on Chris' shoulder, ready to orb with him, 'you can't be serious. You don't know where they are, you can't use your powers for too-'

'I don't need you to tell me the protocol,' Eric said, unusually snappy towards his grandmother, 'And I'm going,'

'Chris,' Phoebe said warningly, 'If he gets into something more than he can handle-'

'_Grams_!'

'He'll be fine,' Chris dismissed, and they both disappeared in a swirl of blue light.

'Well that's just fantastic!' Phoebe exploded, 'I know exactly what Eric's going to do, go on a full rampage and destroy half the city and run the risk of exposing us all. In the process exceeding his quota of magic, appearing on the demon network again and have a swarm of demons after him!'

Coop watched Phoebe pick up Chris' furious pacing, knowing better than to calm her down when she was in a mood like this.

'What's Barbas doing, anyway?' Coop asked, calmly but very seriously, 'He never co-operates with other demons…he has to be up to something,'

'Of course he's up to something!' Phoebe said, 'When isn't that bastard up to something?'

Lily had never heard her Great Aunt curse before; she wondered just what this demon Barbas was like to make Phoebe act so unguarded.

'Just who is Barbas?' Holly asked impatiently. She was completely fed up with them all talking about things that were going straight over her head.

'He's the demon of fear,' Coop explained darkly.

'The family's run into him a fair few times,' Phoebe sighed. She seemed to have composed herself, 'He was the one that killed a dear friend of ours, Billie Jenkins, Kim's godmother,' Kim had been the matriarch of the family whilst Wyatt had been away in college.

'I can't believe it,' Holly said heavily, 'everyone in our family seems to be dying! Don't you think we're fighting a loosing battle here?'

'Not on our watch,' Coop smiled, 'No, we're stronger than you seem to think we are, Holly. We've got Chris and Eric, they know what they're doing,' He shot this last bit at his wife, who scowled.

'We had Chris, Greg, Kim, Isobel, Wyatt and Ivy' Phoebe stated, 'In case you've forgotten, their training, their lives all cut short before – '

'What d'you mean?' Poppy asked.

Phoebe seemed to have forgotten that the sisters were in the same room as them. Poppy's question seemed to force Phoebe out of her bitter reminiscence of the past.

'Oh nothing, sweetheart,' She said, forcing a smile onto her face, 'Come,' She held out her arms for the book, which Poppy handed her reluctantly, 'I'll put this back in the attic and then I'll take you three to the mall. Hopefully Chris and Eric should be home in time for dinner'.

Poppy shot her sisters a dark look. What training did the most powerful witches in their family need? And what use was it if it didn't even protect them from their own deaths?


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN **

'So you'll be home at nine tonight then Holly? Straight after your driving lesson?' Asked Chris.

He was saying goodbye to the girls as they started to walk to school on Monday morning. He had relaxed a little after hearing that Danny and Holly had broken up, and allowed her one night out a week until her grounding was over.

'I think so, around nine,' Holly said distractedly from over her shoulder, the morning wind tugging at her almost black hair, 'God, does he ever stop?' She asked once they were out of his earshot.

Poppy laughed, but Lily gave her a sharp look.

'Don't be so insensitive,' She said, 'He can't help being overprotective. He's worried that-,'

'Oh please,' Holly interrupted, rolling her eyes, 'How much trouble can we get into at school? It's just _swarming _with demons, right? We don't attend Sunnydale High, it's not like we live on a Hellmouth…' She started but then went quiet. For one thing, she didn't want to admit that she watched reruns of Poppy's favourite unbearably geeky TV show like _Buffy_, and for another, she wasn't quite certain that they _weren't _living on a Hellmouth.

Despite the early start, Holly was walking her face set to a determined 'I'm-oozing-cool-and-don't-I-know-it' expression. Poppy bounced along just behind her, looking fresh with barrettes clipped in her hair. But as always, Lily looked drawn and pinched. She had been up all night wondering about Eric. He had not returned to the house when Uncle Chris did late last night, and she didn't fully believe his '_Oh-Eric's-Fine' _when she questioned Uncle Chris about his whereabouts.

The moment they set foot past school gates, Holly was immediately hailed to go and join some friends. But to Poppy and Lily's amazement, she continued walking, as if she hadn't heard them.

'Er, Hols?' Poppy said, rushing to catch up with her sister. 'Alexi's going to be pretty pissed if you don't go over and tell her your weekend's gossip,'

Holly scowled.

'Oh I'm pretty sure Alexi knows what went on, I'm going to the Library to get a book,' She muttered, and hurried away.

Poppy gaped after her, doubting if she even knew where it was. What was ever-in-demand Holly Marston doing going to the library first thing on a Monday morning?

She saw a familiar figure come down the hall, notice her, and abruptly turn on his back and walk in the other direction.

'Hey!' Poppy called, hurt, 'Brice! Where're you going?'

She ran after him.

Even though Brice Whitepath annoyed the hell out of most of the time...he was a pretty cool guy. He kept his silky black hair long as he refused to have it cut, because he was trying to emulate some of his favourite musicians. He was a complete music junkie, obsessed with anything from Death Cab For Cutie to Iggy Pop and the Stooges. Brice normally dressed like a rock star too, tight fitting jeans, loose fitting cords, faded t-shirts and suede jackets...generally dark colours that brought out his Native American colouring. He was also Star Wars/Trek, comic books, graphic novels obsessed...you name it, and he was into it, an endless source of knowledge of Sci-Fi. But Poppy admired him. He was the youngest out of his five, very different brothers, and he wasn't afraid to be himself.

But Brice didn't turn around.

'Brice?' Poppy pressed, 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' He told her, looking at the floor.

'Yes there is,' she noticed his unusual shifty behaviour, 'What's going on?'

There was a long pause and when he finally did answer her a millennia later, his voice was barely audible.

'What?' Poppy was growing impatient, he was still trying to shake her off by walking really fast.

'My grandfather's coming to visit,' He said over his shoulder.

'Your Native American grandfather?' Poppy stared, stopping abruptly.

'Yeah, Huten Whitepath,'

Poppy could not have been more stunned. Huten had never once come to visit his son and grandchildren, he hardly left Minnesota. This explained why Brice was acting so strange. Whenever Brice and his brothers went to visit Huten, who lived on a Sioux reservation just outside of Mankato, Brice always came home a little different. The first time he went, when he was seven, it was for a month and when he came back he hardly spoke to anyone, ignoring Poppy for weeks on end. Over the years Poppy discovered that Huten, a revered Medicine man and the Chief of the tribe, put the boys through various trials, testing their 'magic' and core wisdom, which explained to some extent why Brice was always so odd when he was back in school.

Poppy rushed to catch up with him again.

'I can't believe it,' Poppy said in wonder, knowing that as soon as Huten arrived, Brice would immediately start acting weird, 'Why the sudden interest in seeing the West Coast?'

'I'm coming of age,' Brice shrugged, but Poppy could tell there was something more with the way he kept avoiding her eyes.

Poppy was hurt. She was supposed to be Brice's best friend but this was the first she was hearing about it and he was evidently keeping more from her.

'Is that a big thing then?'

'Yeah,' Brice said reluctantly. He frowned as they settled into their seats in homeroom, 'There's supposed to be this big ceremony but I can't take time off school so he's coming here. Henry and Joe are coming home too…although you can imagine Joe's not so hot about it,'

Poppy nodded. Joe, the second oldest Whitepath brother, was very into the independent thing and rarely came home or called…but he also deeply immersed in his Native American background. If Brice's coming of age was a big event, Joe would definitely put in an appearance. Poppy couldn't even remember the last time she had seen Joe he was that much of a ghost in the family.

'You're being very quiet about this...' She said, giving him an odd look as he settled put his long legs on his desk.

Brice blinked.

'What?'

'When is he arriving?'

'This Saturday,' Brice murmured, still being extremely cagey.

'On your birthday?'

'Uh huh,'

Poppy sighed. She could hardly look forward to it. She wished that Brice could tell her what was going on. If she wanted to tell anyone that she was a witch, it would be him. He would understand, after all, his family were extremely spiritual. But Poppy couldn't tell anyone. It was still all so new to her, and she had been told, time and time again, that you put people in jeopardy by telling them 'all' of the truth. She didn't want to be responsible for putting Brice in that position. Although now she was beginning to think that she didn't know all about Brice by the way he was acting now at the prospect of his grandfather infiltrating his western life. His grandfather scared her with his ability to change Brice into a stoic, thinking type for weeks on end. She didn't know if she could deal with any more changes.

'How long is Huten staying?'

'I don't know,' Brice shrugged, 'But he wants to meet you,'

'Meet me?' Poppy repeated slowly.

Brice didn't look happy about this either.

'He's heard all about you from Mom…I mean, I think he thinks we're betrothed or something.' Brice said a little too casually, 'He's doing this ritual thing on my birthday. All my brother's had to go through something similar. And Dad said he wants you to be there,'

'Well…' Poppy said, trying to figure out just what was going on, 'I guess I can't say no,'

There was a moment of silence but then what Brice said next surprised her.

'Freddy and I used to always stay up late with him around the fire when we used to go stay with him. Cal his never really enjoyed it, and Henry and Joe used to tease him all the time for being a wimp in the wilderness. Of course other things went on too, but it's really weird he's coming here. He never leaves the rev,'

Poppy had never heard him speak about his time on the reservation before.

'Will you be going to see him during Winter Break?' She asked, feeling morose.

'Probably,' Brice said distractedly, bending down and looking for something in his bag, clearly wanting to end the conversation, 'I doubt I'll have a holiday to myself now,'

Poppy couldn't help notice the way his blue/black hair caught the light as he bent down to get something out of his Jansport backpack.

She wanted to talk more but it was useless. Trying to get something out of Brice when he was like this was as easy as extracting blood from a stone.

When the second bell rang and Mr Jacobs came into the room, Brice was already listening to some old skool Belle and Sebastian and lounging on his chair with his 1970's Vans placed on the desktop and staring out the window. The ignoring her had clearly begun.

* * *

><p>Lily was hidden in the library trying to do some serious revision. She had initially come in there to escape from Scott, who had been hounding her non-stop since homeroom. He didn't stop telling her how much he had such a great night and that they should do it again. He didn't even ask how Holly was doing. If he thought she wanted a repeat of Saturday, he was denser than she thought he was.<p>

Myra liked him. She had told her last night on the phone. Myra had panicked when she heard that Lily and Scott had gone out and wanted to know what happened and grudgingly admitted she had liked Scott for years . Myra was annoying her too today, shooting her and Scott glances every five seconds as if thinking that there _was _something going on.

It wasn't like Lily could _let _anything go on anyway.

So much had happened in the last few months that made the idea of getting involved in a relationship ridiculous. There was no one at school she was interested in. Was there? Ever since Freddy Whitepath had helped her and Holly on Saturday, she couldn't stop thinking about him. She tried to focus her brain on reading through her French textbook but the thought of Freddy kept emerging in her head. She just couldn't believe someone like him knew who she was and seemed to understand her. It was impossible to concentrate and there was no way she should be thinking about this now. Lily angrily got her books together, stashed them away in her shoulder bag and dashed down the library stairs. The bell went for third period just as she left the library and as she walked off to break, she noticing Holly coming towards her, looking furious and close to tears.

'Holly?'

'Oh Hi, Lily,' Holly avoided her sister's gaze.

'What's up?' Lily asked immediately.

'Everything it seems,' Holly spat, eyes flashing, 'I can't do anything right. Mr Giddens just put me in detention for not doing my homework. And it seems as if I've lost all of my friends...'

'How d'you mean?'

'The vindictive wench also known as Alexi Newberry took Danny's side about the whole punching him thing, and said that I embarrassed _them _on Saturday and that I have a _warning _and couldn't hang out with them anymore-'

'No way!' Lily exclaimed, 'It was his fault! He drugged you-'

'I know,' Holly nodded, 'I've seriously had enough of them at the moment. Alexi acts like she's above me, and Danny's flirting so much with Chelsea it makes me want to puke. I was the one that created that group and their kicking me out of it! Anyway I'm staying in here, I need to get my mind off them,'

'Seriously?' Lily asked, 'Holly, you should just turn the other cheek, not hide from them. You can't let them show you that they're affecting you-'

'Lily,' Holly sighed, 'seriously, I could do with the escapism.'

'Hol, please just-'

'Oh Lily, stop fussing. I'll see you later,' She snapped, and pushed past her and slammed the library door behind her. Lily turned around, her mind still on her sister when she walked straight into someone.

'Easy,' someone laughed, putting their hands on her shoulders to steady her.

'Sorry,' Lily muttered, looked up and locked eyes with Freddy Whitepath, 'Oh! Hey,'

'Hey yourself,' He said, smiling. She noticed that his eyes were the strangest, most stunning colour. She knew they had been blue but she hadn't realised that they were the exact colour of Lapis Lazuli.

'How've you been since your adventure?' He asked, beaming that wonderful smile of his and folding his arms casually across his chest and looking like he wanted to chat.

'Oh…OK,' She said, feeling flustered. Her mind had gone completely blank. 'Uh, how about you?'

'Yeah good too,' He said, still smiling even though Lily felt she was behaving like a mute goldfish, 'Though I can't say the same about Danny Greenborough. Half of his face is black and blue, don't think I want to get on the wrong side of your sister anytime soon. She has a serious right hook,'

Lily laughed. Yep, she thought, especially since her power of molecular combustion was the most active out of Charmed sisters' powers and she could actually do more than give him a broken nose.

'She and our dad used to do sports together all the time. I think they must have covered boxing by the time she was in third grade'.

'When I was in third grade I had buck teeth and an awful haircut. I could have done with your sister around to defend me against the mean classmates who called me Freddy Toothpath'.

Lily found it hard to fathom the Adonis in front of her looked anything like that. It was sort of trying to imagine an green coloured tiger, somehow it didn't quite work.

'I've been meaning to thank you, for what you did on Saturday,' Lily said earnestly, leaning against the wall, 'I mean, we don't really know you and you proved a lot more helpful than Scott-'

'-Oh, please' Freddy looked embarrassed, 'don't mention it. How is Holly?'

'She's fine,' Lily said, 'She's doing work in the library,'

'Oh good-' Freddy started, but Peter Jefferson, PJ, one of his friends and bassist in _Gooseberry_, called, 'Hey, Fred! Come on bro, Coach Young is gonna kick your ass if you're late for track again!'

'Be right there!' Freddy hollered back, then looked at Lily again,

'See you around sometime?'

'Oh,' Lily stammered, blushing under the intensity of his smile, 'yeah, well we both do go to school here,'

_Wh__y _did she just say that? Kill me now, she thought.

'It was nice to talk to you, Lily,' He said, touching her arm before dashing off to join his impatient friends.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Holly went up the stairs to try and find a dark corner to hide away in but to her extreme annoyance she discovered there were no free tables. This meant that she would have to sit with people, most of them geeky and socially inept freshmen and fellow sophomores, who resented her for being a cheerleader and would most likely glare at her for sitting there with them. She looked around for the least intimidating person to sit with, but it was hard since she had been with Alexi when Alexi had picked on and made life hell for most of these people. Giving up, she sighed and plonked her bag down on the nearest table with space where a blonde boy she didn't recognise had his back to her.

'Lost the way to the changing rooms?' Asked the boy in an amused voice.

Holly took a deep, calming, breath. Not this _again. _She looked at the boy and her face fell. It was Owen East.

'Oh it's you,' Holly said in distaste and opened her geometry book, desperate to avoid his eyes and keen to avoid him.

Holly had hated him since they were young, even before she was such good friends with Alexi. He was a complete preppy boy, with woollen sweaters and thick black-framed glasses and a stupid quiffed haircut. Owen had out smarted her in every single subject, mocked her for her cheerleading uniform and when they were little, played practical jokes on her at every opportunity until she ran away bawling. The coming of new timetables in sophomore year had meant that the time Holly and Owen endured in each other's companies was restricted to English only, until now.

'Oh, so you're not going to play nice? I let you sit at my table,' He said in that superior annoying voice.

'What?' Holly shot back, 'I don't need to ask you where to sit. I'm can sit wherever I want,'

She wasn't going to show him that after eleven years he was still getting to her. Though, to Holly's mighty displeasure, the time away from him had done more change to his appearance than she could have imagined. She saw that, with a twinge of something unpleasant in her stomach, his braces had gone, revealing a set of immaculate pearly-whites, and he just _had _to be pulling weights or something because his biceps had _never _been that well defined. All in all, he was growing into something of a babe. This didn't improve Holly's mood one bit, especially when she looked up from her book to catch Owen looking at her with a stupefied amazed expression marring his gorgeous face.

'What?' She bit out rudely, setting down her pencil.

Owen's eyes flashed and his jaw set into something of a grimace.

'I'm still trying to work out if you've had a lobotomy or something because if you really _were _Holly Marston, you would be in gym and not in the library,' He said, still with that infuriatingly amused expression on his arrogant face, 'you're one of those _cool _people, after all,'

Holly felt a growl come in her throat.

'And you're one of those pretentious insufferable morons who think that, because they spend all their time watching documentaries and going to art galleries they're above everyone,'

'No,' He said, 'That's your department,'

'Look, I'm not going to waste my time talking to you and make you more determined to out-wit me,' She dismissed, feeling stung, 'you can't get away with it, I'm not seven anymore,'

To her amazement, Owen changed tack.

'So who're you dating now? Still dating that steroid pumped jock Greenborough?' He enquired interestingly.

Holly rolled her eyes.

'They're his real muscles, and no we broke up a the week – hang on, why do you care all of a sudden?'

'I like to keep up with my Holly Marston news,'

'I really doubt that'. Holly was taken aback. She hadn't talked to Owen in months, in fact…they hadn't crossed paths since her parents were murdered.

'What can I say? I like to be informed on how the other half are doing at this school, why the feel so entitled and golden'.

'Can I just study?'

'This is _my _table, I didn't ask you to bother me.'

'You haven't changed at all, all I'm doing is trying to get on with some work and you _still _torment me! Get a life!' She hissed, getting up and shoving everything in her bag again.

Owen, instead of looking angry, looked even more entertained. As if she were a mildly interesting football game or something. Or rather, the biography of some famous freedom fighter that he'd watch.

'Going are you? You know, _you _haven't changed either. You always run away when things get interesting,' He said, leaning back on his chair and folding his long arms behind his head.

'FINE! I don't care, and no wonder why you've never had a girlfriend! Girl's can't STAND you!' Holly, who had always had a fiery temper, felt her pulse rate increasing.

'No wonder why you've had so many boyfriends...guys totally dig a hot-head,' He grinned.

Incensed, Holly span on her heel and headed away from him completely unnerved. What a freak! She had made it to the end of the corridor when someone tapped her on the shoulder impatiently.

'What?' She snapped and turned around to see Owen standing there holding something outstretched in his hand.

Holly looked down, and raised a hand to her neck. Her necklace. On it had her father's wedding ring the chain. Holly felt her breath catch, and the colour fade from her face.

'You dropped this,' He said, face devoid of any amusement or superiority.

Owen had dropped his arrogant pretence at once the moment he noticed what was on the chain. He knew all about what happened. It was all over the papers; _'Beloved middle school art teacher and prominent lawyer murdered brutally in their home'_ … '_perpetrators still on the loose' _the headlines had blared for weeks. He had known months ago, and it had spurred him to set things right with Holly, but he had been too unsure what to say to her and how exactly he could make amends for all the years he used to make her life difficult. Owen wanted to build bridges with her, get her out of her shallow friendships with her toxic friends but he didn't know where to start.

'Oh,' Holly murmured, looking down at the floor, 'Thanks,'

'Here', he said kindly and before she knew what was happening he had leant forward and put it around her neck. His fingers were light and soft on her skin and Holly felt a blush creeping on her face again. In the past few months she couldn't remember the last time she had looked at someone who seemed to know exactly what was going through her head. It unnerved her that such compassion and understanding would be coming from someone whom she thoughthated her guts.

* * *

><p>Although Holly would rather <em>die <em>than admit she was hanging out with social zero Owen East, she bizarrely found herself making an effort to bump into him. Every fourth period Holly joined Owen at his table in the Library. Though they barely tolerated each other, often snapping and arguing about things from bands to mathematical equations, which sometimes made Holly flounce out of the library too angry to see straight after a particular fierce verbal rally (in whispers of course), Holly found herself yearning for the time she spent with Owen in that hour each day just because he was so different to all the other people she was used to spending time with. And after the whole spiking drink escapade, Holly knew that the people she counted on being her friends weren't all that good for her. Time with Owen felt real. She felt like a real person, someone whose parents would be proud of, a feat that Holly had rarely felt when they had been alive.

Sometimes, all Holly could think about was how Owen's hair sometimes fell over one eye, or the way her blood boiled when he laughed at her when she got Einstein's famous equation completely wrong (she bottled away e = mc2 for future reference). Weeks passed, and Holly beame more and more neglectful of seeking out Alexi and the others at lunchtime. In the end, after Alexi cornered her and gave her a huge lecture about her shying away from her responsibilities to the group, Holly threw in the towel, unable to take Alexi and the girls anymore.

'I've got something to tell you,' She had told Owen the next morning, 'You know that my Uncle's ban on me from the girls soccer team ended last week?'

'Yeah…' He was intent on a maths equation, barely paying attention to her.

'Well,' She said, waving her hands in front of his face. She had put up with Alexi ignoring her, but she wouldn't tolerate anyone else doing it anymore, 'I quit,'

'No way. Not because of me I hope,' He was referring to the way he had gone on for about two hours the other day about what a waste of time he thought chasing a ball around a field for ninety minutes.

'Get over yourself...I quit because it was unbearable and there's only so much of that lot I can take. I'd rather be doing something else...like swimming,' She said thoughtfully.

'Oh yeah, a great way to help society, swimming,' Owen snorted. Holly whacked his arm, smiling.

'Well, I'm proud of you. It's about time you stopped following the crowd and get back in touch with yourself,' Owen smiled.

'Get back in touch with myself?'

'Yeah…like in elementary. All those poems you used to write,'

'What poems?' Holly asked incredulously.

'You know, those poems you were always writing! At lunch?'

'You remember that?'

'Of course I do. I remember how annoyed I was when you won the fifth grade class prize for your anthology of poems about the city over my science project,'

'Wow,' Holly breathed, 'I completely forgot I used to write. I used to love it,'

'You should start it again,' Owen said.

'Oh really?' Holly scoffed, finding the idea completely ludicrous, 'And what would I have to say? My life has been so deep and meaningful up to now, I'm a real humanitarian…shaking my pom poms every week, getting wrecked at parties. Yeah…real inspirational stuff,'

'I'm sure you have something decent to say Holly,' Owen said seriously, 'You had talent when we were eight, I'm sure it's only improved since then. Seriously, it's time you started investing in things you really care about and stop caring what others think of you. Who cares what Alexi or Jon or Cal think? They're the ones who are going to suffer one day because they never were brave enough to stop following the crowd and other people's expectations and do what they truly care about,'

Holly stared at him.

'Why are you being so nice to me?'

Owen looked awkward for the first time.

'Because being horrible isn't who I am anymore. I don't want to be a jerk to you anymore. What's the point? Was it worth it, all those years of putting you down? If I can change, you can too,'

Holly wondered if he was being as sincere as she was when she said these things to Poppy a few weeks ago.

'I never thought we could be friends,' Holly said in amazement.

'I'm glad we are now,' Owen said, at looked down at his book once more.

* * *

><p>Things weren't going so well for Lily. Scott had started to ignore her after weeks of her avoiding him and Myra was taking Scott's side in the whole thing. Her AP classes were so challenging and had loaded so much work on her she was much too tired to put her all in her homework when she got home these days.<p>

By the beginning of November the back to school enthusiasm and energy she possessed at the start of the semester had well and truly evaporated.

It was a Tuesday night and Lily came home after spending four hours at the tutor centre. She felt exhausted but relieved at the prospect of having a free house. Phoebe, Coop and Chris were all at work, Holly was at a driving lesson and Poppy was at Brice's. Lily unlocked the door and let out a sigh of relief as she crossed the threshold of the house.

She dropped her bag into a chair in the hall and went into the kitchen, dismayed when she saw Poppy at the table with Brice Whitepath.

'What are you doing here?'

Poppy grinned, oblivious to the fact her sister's face fell at the sight of them.

'Brice and I decided to come here instead, with Coop and Phoebe gone we could watch something on TV other than some soap opera or dating show.' She explained, taking a bite out of a sandwich.

'Hey Lily,' Brice said in a deep voice, that cheeky smile on his face. He loved going to the Marston house, as well as hanging out with his best friend, he could get in some serious Babe Watching.

Lily gave Brice a weak smile, went to the fruit bowl, took an apple and left the room.

'Something I said?' Brice asked, raising an eyebrow.

Poppy rolled her eyes. Even though she knew she had no right to stop Brice being attracted to people, it still annoyed her when he drooled all over her kitchen floor over her stunning sister.

Poppy let out a frustrated noise and left the kitchen, looking for her elder sister. She found her in the living room, lounging around watching a rerun of _That 70's Show._

Poppy stood in front of the TV with her hands on her hips.

Lily looked up at her, eyebrow raised.

'What's wrong?' She asked, taking a bite from her apple.

'What are you doing home?' Poppy asked rudely. 'Aren't you supposed to be at chemistry club or tutoring?'

'Am I not allowed to chill in my own house?'

'I didn't say that,' Poppy protested, feeling bad. 'Why don't you go out with Scott or something? You haven't seen him in weeks. And you've been avoiding Myra's calls, she called twice yesterday,'

Poppy sat down on the edge of the sofa, looking at her sister more closely.

Thanks for reminding me Poppy, Lily thought. Myra had been so keen to hear what was happening between her and Scott that she finally lost her temper and yelled at her to back off. They had been cold towards each other since then.

When Lily didn't say anything Poppy pressed on.

'Have you fallen out?' She asked.

Lily shook her head, not wanting to discuss it...especially not with _Poppy_of all people who, though caring, was the most loudmouthed person she knew. Lily never talked about anything; she normally kept it to herself and felt the frustration mounting up inside her, until she couldn't take it anymore. She had been wound so tight for ages.

'Is it Eric?' Poppy urged on.

'Eric?' Lily asked in confusion.

'Yeah,' Poppy said, 'I know that you two got close over the summer,'

'He just helped me out with Dad's car,' Lily smiled, 'Y'know, selling it on through a contact with the garage.'

'But you lunched with him quite a lot,' Poppy reminded her.

'Yeah, we used to hang out for hours after he finished work. I never realised how much I had in common with him before, apart from us both having dead parents. He cares a lot about family...something that not a lot of guys like him would admit,'

'Yeah,' Poppy agreed, 'He's got the whole scary Marlon Brando alpha male thing going on. And I'm _pretty _sure he's got a record,'

'That's just a rumour,' Lily put her straight, 'I doubt Phoebe would be so nurturing if he was a J.D,'

'Yeah,' Poppy said, reluctantly. She liked it better when she thought Eric was armed and dangerous, 'He's still cool though. Look, are you OK?'

'I'm fine. Get back to Brice, he's probably looking through your backpack for your diary,' Lily teased, giving her little sister a shove.

'I don't take my diary to school,' Poppy went red for some reason, which made her sister's smile turn into a grin.

'Ooh, I didn't think Brice was your type!' Lily cooed.

Poppy's blush deepened.

'He's not...I mean, he's nice and everything...LILY! He's my best friend! He's like...my brother for God's sake!' She wrinkled her nose in disgust and sped out of the room, her long hair shimmering gold in the afternoon light filtering through the conservatory as she passed through it.

Brice was sitting in the kitchen, looking at all the photos on the wall.

There were lots of Wyatt and Ivy with their children, action pictures, like one of Ivy pushing a small Lily on a swing, Ivy's beautiful Italian features scrunched up from the sunlight, her grin immortalised by the camera. There was one in particular that caught Brice's eye. It was a black and white photograph of Poppy.

He smile grew wider as he got up for a closer look.

Poppy obviously didn't know the picture was being taken. It was a close up of a ten year old Poppy, she even had her freckles, Brice had forgotten about them! She was standing in the middle of a field her head bent as she was dropping petals on the flower head she had picked, her long hair flowing over one shoulder. It was late autumn, as there were fallen leaves on the ground and Poppy was wearing a cardigan. The fading sunlight cast a shadow over Poppy's face. Her features were screwed up in immense concentration...like if she didn't pick all the petals off the white flower head the world would end. Brice felt a curious swooping sensation in his stomach, he had never realised Poppy was so beautiful. Had he _ever _looked at her properly? He asked himself in astonishment. How could he ever think her sister's were pretty? They were nothing compared to Poppy, she was so unique looking, with her small wiry frame, huge brown eyes with their ridiculously long eyelashes, light brown hair and olive skin and-

'Back,' Called the real Poppy as she flounced into the kitchen.

He backed away from her, blushing. Oh my God, he thought, did I actually just _think _that about my best friend? He looked at her and felt his blush deepen.

Adolescence had slimmed her face and carved her cheekbones even more prominently. Oh no...he thought.

Poppy raised her eyebrow, amused. She had never seen her friend look so awkward and embarrassed. She wondered what he'd done.

'What have you stolen?' She grinned, pretending to look around the kitchen for stolen items.

'Nothing! I haven't taken anything!' Brice protested hotly, but refused to look at her.

'Right,' She said slowly. What was wrong with him? She wasn't away for _that _long. Oh God, Poppy thought in horror, he's seen my report card!

Phoebe had a habit of sticking stuff like that on the fridge. Poppy groaned inwardly. She couldn't believe how good her grades were after the all mishaps of settling into High School. When they were issued it the day before, Brice had wanted to compare results. He was ecstatically happy with beating his elder brother Cal, who was the same age as Holly and always competing with Brice to be the 'best'. Even though Brice had done well, Poppy had outshone him in at least three subjects. She had hastily stashed the card away in her bag, saying that she did fine and quickly changed the subject; she hadn't wanted to steal Brice's thunder.

'Look,' Poppy said desperately, moving forward, 'I wanted to tell you, but you were so glad you did better than Cal in World Civ. I didn't want to make it seem like I was rubbing it in,'

Brice looked confused.

'What?'

Poppy blushed. Damn, of course he hadn't seen her report card; she hadn't even given it to her uncle yet!

'Never mind. Right, I know we ate at your place, but I'm going to make some popcorn to take upstairs anyway,' She said, recovering quickly.

Brice stood there gaping, his black eyes growing wider and wider.

'Upstairs?' He croaked, blinking. That could only mean one thing couldn't it? She wanted to make out! He wasn't ready for it. Yeah OK, he had kissed a few girls, but that had been last summer, it had been a challenge between him and Cal for who could kiss the most girls at camp. They had never meant anything. They were just a way to win something over Cal...but kissing Poppy? Phew, he had never even _thought _about it! She meant so much more to him than those stupid kiddish girls last year!

Poppy looked at Brice like he was insane. Why was he looking at her like that?

'For the movie, remember? You were the one that wanted to watch _Batman Begins_ in the first place! Not like we haven't seen it a million times before,'

'Oh!' He laughed nervously, 'Yeah, well of course I want popcorn!' He grinned again and Poppy sighed with relief. Brice was back...but where the hell had he gone? He hurried over to where Poppy was rummaging through the cupboards for the popcorn. Within minutes it was back to how it was. They had the usual fight over the flavour, he wanted salt and she wanted toffee...and ended up making a disgusting combination of both. It ended up in a mini food fight and in between laughing and throwing uncooked popcorn kernels at Poppy's laughing face, Brice couldn't help noticing the dimple that formed in Poppy's cheek every time she grinned. When they headed up to her bedroom a few minutes later, Brice couldn't help the pang of disappointment. He shook his head. He was mad! He was feeling put out because he wasn't going to kiss his best friend? But, it wasn't as if it was ever on the cards...she would never like him in that way...and wasn't she always saying how annoying she found him?


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

After what seems like minutes since she put down _Possession _to go to sleep something woke Holly awoke with a start. Bleary eyed, she looked at the luminous clock on the wall.

3:45.

Holly stared at the face, incredulous. Then she felt it. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled and goosebumps had emerged all over her arms.

There was someone in her room.

'Hello?'

There was no answer. Then, a moment, later, there was no mistaking it, a shuffle by the door.

Oh my God, Holly thought, there _is _someone in my room! Feeling brave despite the increasing feelings of panic erupting in her throat, she flicked on her bedside lamp.

Shielding her eyes from the sudden light, she blinked to see Eric Halliwell standing there looking guarded and confused, but completely and utterly naked!

'OH MY GOD!' Holly and Eric shrieked in unison.

Holly turned away, pulling the covers up over her face, in horror.

She heard a rustle and the covers being pulled away from her.

'What the hell are you doing?' Eric exclaimed.

'I-I don't know...what are you doing here?' Holly squeaked, completely shocked.

She looked down in spite of herself, and was grateful to see he had wrapped her towel around his, er, manhood.

Eric sat down on the edge of her bed and controlled himself. He was furious to be ripped out of his dreams and astral-projected into his cousin's room in the middle of the night, naked no less! But now the anger and embarrassment had disappeared, and was replaced by a warped sense of amusement.

'So, decided to do some summoning while your uncle was asleep?' He yawned, and then scooted up next to Holly, who tensed, and led back against the headboard, 'Wanted to have your way with me?'

He stretched his tanned legs and the towel looked in danger of covering little more than the top of his thigh.

'No I did not!'

'Arw, come on,' He teased, 'If you wanted to practise your magic, hey, I don't care. I think it's a good idea that you-'

'I didn't even realise I had summoned anyone! I didn't even know I could summon from outside of the house!' Holly was getting more and more panicked.

Why on earth had she unconsciously summoned Eric in the middle of the night? She felt dangerous. She had no idea that she was capable of doing something so powerful as summoning someone from all the way across town.

'Well, were you...' He grinned, 'dreaming about me?'

Holly snorted, thinking he was completely absurd, and then remembered she was! She was dreaming that her and Eric were taking a walk and he was teasing her for her old cheerleading uniform! Eric noticed Holly blush deepen, then smirked.

'I take that as a yes then?'

Holly nodded, looking away, her cheeks still aflame.

He noticed how she wasn't as sharp and witty in the middle of the night as she was in the day, which made him even more amused. He never thought he'd see the razor-tongued Holly Marston speechless.

'Well, would you mind sending me back? I've kind of left a lady in bed and she might be wondering where I astral-projected to,' He said, standing up.

Holly's lip curled in distaste.

'I didn't want to know that Eric,' She said disgustedly.

He turned back to his young cousin, green eyes sparkling in the dim lamplight.

'I was talking about my Sheba,' He said, laughing at her expression.

'Your German Shepard?' She exclaimed, throwing a pillow at him.

He ducked and burst out laughing.

'So, er...can you send me back now?' Eric asked, standing near the door.

Holly felt a tremor of uncertainty. She had never summoned anyone away from her before. The only people she had summoned were her sisters and they were always in the house at the time.

'I've never done it before,' She bit her lip.

Eric groaned.

'Look's like I'm going to have to walk then,' He said dramatically, turning to handle.

'Wait! Couldn't you just shimmer?' Holly blurted out, and then regretted it instantly.

Eric stiffened and dropped his hand from the door handle. He turned to look at her, his expression stony and guarded.

'I haven't shimmered in over ten years and they all think I'm dead. If I used my powers, they'll know I'm alive and murder me...' Eric's voice shook with anger.

Holly didn't have to ask who _they _were. She knew that the Source and the Triad all had ways of tracking active demons. And if the demons were traitors, they sent out assassins to kill them instantly.

'I'm sorry,' Holly muttered, looking away.

'I'm going to sleep downstairs,' He said shortly and left the room.

Holly slumped back against the pillows and groaned. Damn it! But after hours of fruitless efforts to go back to sleep again, she found herself staring at the ceiling wide-awake, scared to death she might summon another unsuspecting innocent person.

* * *

><p>Lily, Holly and Poppy were all quiet at the breakfast the next morning. Great Uncle Coop looked at them curiously. Poppy was looking into space, the bowl of cereal in front of her untouched, her long light brown hair falling in loose waves, still tousled from sleep. Holly's eyes were black and droopy, as if she were about to fall asleep at any moment. Lily, on the other hand, was busy doing the washing up, but her face was set into a cast of misery.<p>

'Come on girls! Cheer up!' Coop said, sitting next to Holly, who gave a start.

'Sorry Uncle Coop...' Holly said, 'I'm just so-so...tirrred,' She yawned.

'Well you shouldn't have been out so late!' Poppy said, frowning.

'What? I was home by half ten! And in bed by eleven!' Holly protested, feeling irritated. It was so like her to believe the worst in her. Actually, it was so like the whole of her family. And she was getting sick of it.

'Did you not sleep well?' Coop asked.

'Well...' Holly looked awkward, 'The truth is, I accidentally summoned someone in the middle of the night,'

He looked surprised.

'Who did you summon?' Coop asked quickly. It was very unusual for young witches powers to get out of control in the subconscious.

'Eric,' Holly braced herself for everyone to start yelling at her.

Coop burst out laughing.

Holly looked around the table in amazement, Poppy was killing herself laughing too...in fact the only person who wasn't giggling was Lily, who had her back to her, but had stopped mid rinse of a plate. Lily turned around.

'Is he OK?' Lily demanded.

Holly nodded and decided not to mention the fact that he was completely naked when she accidentally summoned him.

'Well,' Said Coop, still chortling, 'At least it wasn't a demon,'

'Yeah,' Chris said from the doorway, 'Then we'd be in trouble,'

'What? Poppy asked in confusion, 'Isn't Eric a demon?'

'Shut up Poppy,' Lily said sharply.

Holly stared. She couldn't remember the last time she tell Poppy to shut up.

The phone started to ring.

Chris excused himself and picked up.

'What?' Poppy asked, getting agitated.

Why wouldn't anyone tell her what she said was wrong?

'It's for you Poppy,' Chris said, holding out the phone for the youngest Marston. Poppy leapt up from her chair and took the receiver.

'Hello?'  
>'Poppy, <em>please <em>can you come with me to Cal's football game this afternoon?' Brice pleaded.

'Er,' Poppy thought she would rather stay at home with her family than watch a completely pointless football game full of people she despised. Cal was no exception. She hated the way he was always looking at her like she was this piece of rubbish he'd just stepped in, but she mostly hated him because he was always putting Brice down. There was no way he could tempt her, even if he was her best friend.

'Can't Freddy go with you?'

'You know he's busy with the band; they're practising some sets for the _View _tonight. Poppy please!' Brice sounded desperate.

'Why are you even going? You hate Cal as much as I hate football,' Poppy asked.

'My grandfather's still here and he wants to do the Western Family thing. Mom said I could invite you along, I mean...' Brice's voice got awkward, 'But, I want you there too. At least I'll have someone to talk to who isn't into sports. Well...Ok Grandpa isn't but-'

'-Well...OK, as long as I'm in control of you iPod,' She said, coming to his rescue.

'No way! Last time I agreed to that I was stuck listening to No Doubt for three hours!'

'Whatever! You love Gwen Stefani, don't pretend that you haven't got pictures of her all over your locker,'

'Look, do you want to come or not?'

'I don't _want _to come, but I will...I want to meet your grandfather,'

It was true. He had been staying with Brice for three weeks now and she still hadn't met him yet.

'We'll pick you up at five,' and he hung up.

'Are you going to Cal's game?' Holly asked.

'Seems so, yeah,'

'Cal is such a jerk,' Holly said, frowning, 'He's so gross, always going on about how many girls he hooks up with at summer camp. Like anyone believes him,' She rolled her eyes.

'Doesn't Brice go to summer camp with him?' Lily asked interestedly.

'Ha! Like anyone would kiss Brice!' Poppy said without thinking.

'Oh Poppy,' Lily said, smiling slightly, 'don't be so mean. Brice is sweet, of course people are going to want to kiss him,'

Poppy bit her lip, feeling guilty. How could she say something like that? But the comment did arouse some weird curiosity in her...what _if _Brice had kissed girls. How would she feel about that? She thought about the odd tension with Brice at the moment. She didn't know where it was coming from. He had started noticing things about her, like last week he said that he liked her perfume, but she wasn't wearing any. These comments made her feel uncomfortable, like he was always looking at her. But she couldn't help notice things about him too. There was something different about him...was it his hair? It looked so shiny and so black it was almost blue. The way he smelt faintly of woodsmoke and cinnamon.

'I don't like Brice like that,' Poppy said loudly, trying to rid herself of these confusing thoughts.

'Oh whatever!' Holly grinned, 'You totally blushed when we were talking about Brice kissing someone!'

'Do we really have to talk about boys and _kissing_ at the breakfast table? I would give anything to push romance to the side for a while.' Chris sighed exasperatedly. 'No offence Uncle Coop,' He flashed him an apologetic grin.

Coop chuckled, he was always talking about his various charges and the funny things they did to each other in the name of love. He wasn't allowed to name names but he was always sharing his stories, which the girls loved and gave impetus to Phoebe's creative drive at the paper.

The girls fell silent. Finally, Chris thought, some peace and quiet.

The back door suddenly shot open and Phoebe came stumbling in, wearing an expression of pain and clutching a huge burn in her arm.

'Phoebe!' Coop cried in surprise.

'What happened?' Chris asked his aunt, jumping from his seat, and coming forward to heal her.

She batted his hand away.

'There's no time…demon...bound my powers, ambushed me at the store-'

'-This early in the morning?' Coop asked her in alarm, pushing back his chair abruptly.

Poppy, Lily and Holly all shared nervous looks.

'Richie orbed me here to get you both,' She said impatiently, 'Come on, we've got to hurry, there are innocents in there-'

'The girls,' Chris said in a voice that Lily had never heard him use before, throwing a worried look over the sisters,

'They'll be OK,' Coop said, 'the house is protected remember? That's why we gave you the house after their powers were unleashed. I'll send Eric over to watch over them. We won't be long,' He added to the girls.

Coop, Chris and Phoebe all came close together, and Chris, putting hand on each of their shoulders, Phoebe and Coop all disappeared in a swirl of blue/white light.

Lily, Holly and Poppy were all still sitting at the table, silent and dumbstuck, not really knowing what to do.

'Who's Richie?' Poppy asked.

'Phoebe's whitelighter,' it was Lily who answered, looking frightened.

'Well,' Holly said, glad she wouldn't be quilt tripped if she went back upstairs to catch up with some sleep, 'at least we've got a free house,'

Lily couldn't believe it.

'Tact much,' She said, glowering at her sister.

'Oh come on, you heard Uncle Coop. We're all right as long as we're in the house. They'll be back soon,' Holly said dismissively.

'Holly,' Lily said slowly, 'I really don't think that you quite understand-'

'What's there to understand? They're doing their job. Someday we'll be doing it too. End of story,' Holly got up from the table and left the room before Lily could depress her even more.

'What the-?' Lily spluttered, 'Aunt Phoebe just got attacked!'

'Although I can communicate telepathically,' Poppy shrugged, 'I have no idea how her mind works,'

'Well, I'm going to wait in the living room for Eric,' Lily said, flouncing out of the kitchen, 'maybe he can tell me what the hell is going on,'

'I'll come too,' Poppy said leaping up but Lily shook her head.

'No hon, I think you'd better stay in here or in your bedroom until they get back…' Lily said hastily before leaving the room.

Poppy scowled into her breakfast. Her sisters were beginning to get on her nerves. Lily wasn't the _only _one kept in the dark. No one ever told _her _anything! Poppy seized the Book of Shadows. It still lying on the kitchen table after all those weeks ago they had made that vanishing potion. There had to be some kind of truth spell in there right? It was just _lying _there, so it wasn't exactly banned. Though Poppy did remember Phoebe saying that the Book of Shadows wasn't a toy. As if! God, it was a book of dangerous _spells. _She knew to treat it with caution.

Her trembling fingers skimmed the thick pages of the leather bound volume. She could almost _feel _the magic humming from it.

Flicking the pages her beautiful eyes widened in wonder. She was capable of doing all these things? Even though there were masses upon masses of information on demons and other evil things, there were so many chapters on spells Poppy started to feel crestfallen, there were so many spells to chose from! Then she found it.

The perfect incantation, the Truth Spell. She would finally get the answers she deserved.

She read the incantation, reading the rhyming words with such excitement she felt as if she would burst. Ha! She cast her first spell, and I didn't need help from Holly or Lily!

Though when she finished reading the seven lines, she felt something of an anti-climax. Nothing happened. There were no swirling lights, no echoing music, no swelling feeling in the pit of Poppy's stomach. Standing there for another minute, waiting for _something _to happen, Poppy grew so frustrated at the _nothing _that she slammed the book shut and sighed. It must've needed the power of three...still, she thought as she wound her way upstairs to her bedroom, I tried.

She collided into Holly, who was standing with the phone in her hand with an expression of embarrassment.

'What have you been doing?' She asked, wanting to laugh at the uneasiness her presence was putting on her sister.

'I just called Owen to ask if he wanted to go to the movies again,' Holly said automatically. Then something curious came over her, she slapped a hand to her mouth and went bright red.

Poppy was also surprised. Holly calling a _boy! _What the hell was that about? Holly never chased guys.

'Again?' Poppy asked, grinning, 'When did you go before?'

'A few weeks ago, the day that Uncle Chris threw a fit about the non-existent Grossman complaint. I swear that he just goes to the office so he doesn't have to come home and see us-'

'What?' Poppy exclaimed.

'Why did I say that? I mean...' Holly gushed, almost dropping the phone.

'Who's Owen?' Poppy interrupted, interested. No boy ever got her sister in a muddle, and made her nervous, like this one was. And anyway, wasn't she going out with that stupid footballer Danny?

'You know, Owen East,'

Poppy's mouth fell open. _Owen East? _That jerk that put worms down Holly's back in third grade sending her home crying her eyes out?

HIM?

'Owen East? What happened to Danny?' She asked, gazing at her sister in shock and amazement.

'He broke up with me, which isn't that big a deal because he was a jerk-off who pushed me to so many bases I lost count,' Holly went scarlet and looked at her sister with mad eyes.

'Why the HELL AM I TELLING YOU THIS?' She demanded wildly.

Poppy shook her head, and then it hit her. Had her spell actually worked? She decided to play around a bit. Her sister wouldn't be able not to tell her the truth now would she?

'Were you dreaming about Eric last night?' She asked, grinning from ear to ear. Now she was the one in control!

'Oh Poppy, it was so embarrassing; when I summoned him he had no clothes on! But then he got all annoyed when I couldn't summon him back and pissed off that I suggested he'd shimmer. How was I supposed to know that he would be killed if he used his powers again? Anyway, how does he kill all those demons if he doesn't use his powers?' She clapped a hand to her mouth.

Poppy burst out laughing. Her sister was talking more about magic than she had in the past four months.

Holly grabbed Poppy's shoulders and shook her hard.

'What have you done?' She asked, her blue eyes hard with distrust.

'I...' Poppy could feel the truth was about to come out, so she cleverly covered it up, 'something.' Poppy said, cheeks flaming.

'You're up to something,' Holly announced. Without another word, as if she didn't trust herself to be around Poppy anymore, Holly went into her room and closed the door behind her.

Poppy couldn't believe it. Her first spell had worked! She couldn't remember the last time she felt so proud of herself.

* * *

><p><em>Thank you so much for reading! Bet you can't wait to meet the infamous 'Cal' in the next few chapters eh? Haha. Please review. Hope you are still enjoying the story!<em>


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

The doorbell rang and Lily jumped up from the couch and hurried to answer it. She had been doing her nut for the last few hours wondering why the hell Eric hadn't turned up yet and if Chris, Coop and Phoebe were all right.

'About t-' She started, but stopped short at the sight of two people standing there that she never wanted to meet. Eric was slouched against the doorframe, smirking at Scott Lopez stood awkwardly but looking livid.

'Hi,' Lily said with trepidation. What was Scott doing here? And why had Eric rang the doorbell? He normally came round the back.

'Hey you,' Eric said in his deep voice, winking and flashing her his dangerous smile.

'Lily,' Scott demanded in a completely different tone, 'Why have you been avoiding my calls?'

He hadn't planned to ask her this at all but once he saw this tough biker dude at the door eyeing him up like he was beneath him it just popped out.

Eric shot an interested look in Scott's direction, as if he had only just realised he was there.

'Er come in, both of you.' She opened the door wider and invited them into them into the entrance way.

'So who are you?' Eric shot at Scott the moment they had got through the door. He shrugged his jacket off comfortably and slung it on a coat hook, while Scott stood uncomfortably.

'I'm one of Lily's best friends, who are _you?' _Although the biker guy intimidated him, Scott tried to hold his ground. He tilted his chin arrogantly and folded his arms across his chest signifying that he meant business.

Lily looked between both guys, speechless. Why were they being so weird? It was as if she had just walked into a Jane Austen novel and they were having a stand-off to defend her virtue.

'I'm Eric, you boring human, and you don't need to know what I am to Lily,'

Scott tried not to laugh. Was this the new Hells Angels talk or something? God, at least he didn't have to suffer them at school. Not for the first time he was glad that his father paid an extortionate amount for his private education to keep scum like this _Eric _out of his life. But what was Lily doing hanging around with a guy like this? He thought she had better taste. First a sister who gets drunk and disorderly, now this guy? Lily definitely wasn't the girl he thought she was.

'What did you just say?' Lily directed at Eric angrily, giving him a warning look.

Scott smiled. At least she wasn't putting up with his rudeness. But she didn't have to put a hand on his shoulder did she?

'Can't you get rid of him?' Eric hissed in Lily's ear.

'I've had enough of this,' Scott snorted, 'it's quite clear that there's something going on between you both! But did you _have _to act like that in front of me?'

'What?' Lily asked, shocked, 'He's my cousin! Nothing's going on between us!'

'You could have had the decency to tell me and not make me look like a complete idiot for weeks following you around! God, what was I thinking to be interested in someone like you? You're so selfish,'

'What did you just say to her?' Eric demanded, protective over his favourite cousin.

'Oh yeah,' Scott said, rolling his eyes, 'Nothing's going on between you two,'

'I can't believe you think I'm the selfish one! You only followed me about because you wanted to get into my uncle's business,' Lily burst out, 'You don't care about anyone but yourself!'

Eric looked disgusted.

'You _used _her? She's worth better than that!'

'Don't I know it!' The words were coming out of Lily's mouth before she could stop them, 'And I've been avoiding you since our so-called date because of what a complete and utter ass you were on it! What was _I _thinking? There is no way in hell I could ever find anything worth being interested in in you!'

'No,' Scott corrected, 'I'm too good for _you_. I don't want to be with someone who's sister's makes an ass's out of themselves and who associates with this sort of trash.'

'God you're a prick!' Eric laughed.

'I don't have to listen to this,' Scott wrenched open the front door, 'I'm going. I can't believe I was ever interested. You're just like every other girl on the planet. A tease. There's nothing remotely different about you at all,'

'A tease! God, you're so clueless to everything around you!' She blurted out. It was like she had no control over her thoughts! They were just pouring out, 'It's not me who even likes you, its Myra!'

'Myra?' Scott, for the first time, looked nonplussed, 'What are you talking about?'

'Why don't you ask her?' Lily asked huffily, but Eric overrode her.

'Bye!' He gave Scott a pinky wave and showed him to the door.

The moment he was gone Eric burst out laughing.

'Ha,'

'Ha nothing!' Lily rounded on him, 'What was all that talk about humans and-'

But Eric ignored her.

'-What an idiot. I'm so glad I don't have to put up with people like that anymore,'

'Yeah well,' Lily grumbled, 'Good for you,'

She couldn't believe she had told Scott about Myra's crush on him. Myra was going to kill her. But what was that? All that honesty? There was no other word for it, it was so surreal, like magic almost.

'Holly!' Lily yelled up the stairs.

Why was Holly always acting up? Couldn't she have a _normal _sister instead of a complete whack job?

Holly came down the stairs, an irritated expression on her face. She stopped short at the sight of Lily who was looking uncharacteristically furious.

'What is it?' Holly asked hastily.

'WHAT IS IT?' Lily exploded. 'What have you been doing?'

Holly raised an eyebrow.

'I've been watching TV,' She said defensively. 'What am I supposed to have done this time?'

'You've cast a spell, haven't you? How else do you explain why everyone is being so truthful around here all of a sudden?' Lily shouted, getting angrier by the minute.

Holly also began to feel her patience fading.

'I haven't cast any spell! For God sake! I've been in my room all afternoon!'

They both stood there, staring at each other, the air between them thick with electricity.

'Poppy,' Holly said, in twisted admiration and exasperation, 'It's Poppy, she cast a truth spell. That's why I was telling her about Owen'

Lily didn't know who she was talking about, neither did she care.

'POPPY!' She shouted up the stairs again. 'Why would she want to do that at a time like this?' She shot at Holly.

Holly shrugged.

'Maybe she could figure out what's going on between Brice and her or something,'

Poppy came down the stairs impatiently.

'Why did you cast an honesty spell?' Lily barked, Scott's opinion of her still smarting.

Poppy stopped short on the bottom stair, her eyes widening in horror.

'What?'

'Don't play the innocent! Scott just came round here spouting his raw honest feelings!'

'_Scott_?' Holly asked, 'I thought you didn't like him?'

'Shut up!' Lily snapped at Holly.

'I thought it would've worn off by now,' Poppy said, then clapped a hand to her mouth.

Lily let out a frustrated noise.

'You know these things have a twenty four hour lifespan,' She sighed. Great, that's all she needed, Uncle Chris to find out that they were practising magic when they were all risking their lives.

'What are we going to do?' Poppy faltered.

'Why are you asking me? I don't know! I've got enough on my plate without having to think of a way to get you out of trouble!' Lily groaned,

'Jesus Lily, get a grip,' Holly said at once, surprisingly coming to Poppy's defence 'It's only a measly truth spell. Hardly life-threatening!'

'How could you even...argh! This just adds to a whole list of problems I have. I can't deal with it!'

'Just what kind of problems do _you _have?' Holly sneered, 'You don't have a social life, you are the president of all of your extra-curriculars and your powers don't even work. Just how are you supposed to have _so many _problems?'

Lily's eyes flashed.

'Why don't you say what you really feel, Holly?'

'How about you remove that stick you have up your ass?' Holly shot back, well practised in the art of being a bitch.

'How about you stop acting like me and go back to being the skanky ho we hate you for?' Lily shouted, going too far.

'Girls come on,' Eric said wearily, slouching into the hall, but the hurt had been done. Holly was stepping backwards, eyes wide with shock and hurt. 'You can come over to mine for the night and we'll do something real cool like egg your principal's house or something.'

'I'm the one that's going to get into trouble, so I don't know why you're going ape,' Holly said to Lily, ignoring Eric, 'You two can get away with anything,'

'Are you kidding? This is all going to look bad on me! Oh Poppy, why did you have to cast a spell without adult supervision?' Lily asked Poppy tiredly, who had been standing there getting increasingly freaked out.

'Don't lay into her...stop trying to control people!' Holly shouted back.

'Someone has to be responsible for you both! You're too busy with soccer and mirrors to even notice anything!' Lily cried,

'_I _don't notice anything? I haven't played soccer for weeks now, I quit the team!'

'I've had enough of this!' Lily announced, bursting into tears, 'I'm so stressed out I can't breathe anymore!' Holly, Eric and Poppy all gaped as she went over to the front door and slammed it shut behind her.

'Don't worry,' Eric sighed, 'I'll go after her,'

Poppy and Holly stared after him, speechless.

'I can't believe it!' Holly stated, 'and I can't believe her! I _knew _she wasn't made out of stone,'

Poppy didn't say anything but started to cry, knowing it was all her fault. Holly went over and put her arms around her. Even though she and Poppy didn't get on that well, she didn't like it when someone else was saying horrible things to her. And Lily! What was her _problem?_

'Don't worry,' Holly told her, 'seriously. I'm not pissed at you. At least you owned up to it,'

'Of course I'd own up to it!' Poppy said, smiling through her tears, 'I cast a truth spell didn't I?'

* * *

><p>Phoebe was the only one who returned to the house a few hours later. After being hugged to death by Poppy and Holly, she told them that everyone was all right and that it was OK for Poppy to go to the football game now the threat had been 'dealt with'.<p>

'Great,' Poppy muttered as she stomped upstairs to change. She had been counting on missing the thing all together.

'You all right?' Holly poked her head around Poppy's bedroom door. She had heard her sister tearing through her clothes in anger.

'I have nothing to wear!' She shouted incredulously.

'Let me help,' Holly offered, and began to rifle through her sister's wardrobe, which had a considerable amount less in it than her own.

The doorbell rang.

'Brice!' Poppy cried in panic.

Holly quickly flung her an outfit of a faded dark blue sweater, a pair of burgundy cotton jeggings and a denim jacket.

'Just wear what you normally wear, you're not going to a party and you're cool as you are.'

Poppy tore about the room in frenzy looking for socks and applying some eyeliner and then put her long hair in a ponytail before pulling on her chequered Vans slip-ons. Holly pushed her out of the door and they both ran downstairs.

'Say hello to Brice for me,' Phoebe smiled as she passed the sisters on the way up to the attic, the Book of Shadows in her arms. Both girls stood rooted to the spot, expecting Phoebe to question as to why the spellbook had been open but she continued past them.

'Oh God! What am I going to do about the truth spell?' Poppy asked once Phoebe was out of earshot.

Holly just grinned.

'I think it's the least of your worries, looks like the whole Whitepath family is in the pick up,' She nodded out the window, where the Brice's mom's Land Rover was parked outside.

Poppy was already regretting what she'd done by now. She hadn't anticipated Holly and Lily finding out, and Lily's reaction! Oh GOD! What was Chris going to say when they realise she's been casting?

'What about Uncle Chris?' Poppy asked, 'He's going to kill me,'

'I'll deal with it,'

'You know, what Lily said about you being too self absorbed to notice anything...you notice much more than I realise,' Poppy smiled as they continued their way downstairs and into the hallway.

'I'm your sister, of course I notice things' Holly said simply, and opened the door to reveal a nervous looking Brice on the doorstep. 'Hey Brice.' She said in the most polite tone she'd ever used on him, 'Have a nice time guys!'

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for the late update! I've been working quite a bit and generally collapsing as soon as I've been getting home. Chapter Eleven should be done soon, and I'll post either later or within the next few days. Thank you for reading and your lovely comments. They are really appreciated. Please keep reviewing. <em>


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

'Hello Poppy,' Lois Whitepath said, turning around in the driver's seat to greet Poppy, who jumped into a seat in the back after Brice.

'Hi Mrs Whitepath,' Poppy beamed. She loved Brice's Mom. She was so nice and so young,even though she had five sons, two of which were away at Ivy League Colleges.

Cal was sat on the opposite side to Brice with his usual bored expression on his face. He was very good looking in that in your face, 'Don't I know I'm hot,' way that Poppy didn't find attractive at all. Cal was the epitome of cool with his short quiffed black hair and designer clothes. He didn't understand why Brice couldn't be more guy-like, instead of such a huge socially retarded freak that had basically one friend, who was a _girl_. Brice was such an embarrassment to him and the less he had to associate with him, the better.

In the front passenger seat sat an old man. Poppy felt a squirm of excitement, so _this _is the famous Huten?

'This is my Grandfather,' As if reading her mine, Brice introduced him and Huten turned around.

The elder inclined his head and gave a glimmer of a smile.

'Hello Poppy,' He said in a quiet voice.

Poppy took in his ancient, lined face, his long silver hair with braided with beads and spotted feathers, and the heavy scarring on one of his cheeks. She was too intimidated to say anything so she settled for a smile.

He continued to look at the young girl. His black lined eyes were so piercing, that Poppy grew flustered and looked away.

'How have you been Poppy?' Lois asked, starting the engine and driving toward the High School.

'Oh um OK,' She decided not to mention the fact that there were demons after her family and that she'd already done something really stupid and 'predictable' the moment they were out of the way.

'How was your last report card? Was French OK in the end?' Lois was always interested in 'Mom things', like if you were eating your greens and what your GPA was, but Poppy didn't mind. It made her happy that she still had someone to ask her things like that. Although Phoebe and Coop cared, it wasn't really the same as having a mom.

'They've picked up a lot,' Poppy said, 'I'm not the disaster I was at the beginning of the semester,'

'I bet your uncle's really proud of you,' Lois said, catching Poppy's eye in the rear-view mirror and smiling fondly, 'Brice's wasn't bad for his first semester and Calvin's was excellent as usual,'

'One wonders where he gets time to complete such things as homework when he is always out and at football games,' Huten pondered from the front, turning in his seat to give Cal a pointed look.

Poppy sucked in her breath. Did he _know _that Brice had to do most of his homework for him? Brice thought he had to do it so that Cal wouldn't pick on him at school. He hadn't realised the real reason why. But Poppy had figured out Cal's deepest, _darkest _secret after overhearing him in his bedroom one day reading out loud from a textbook in the manner of a third grader. Cal was dyslexic.

'But doesn't it show that Cal is very good at time management? Balancing work and play equally?' Lois argued.

Brice wasn't saying anything, which Poppy thought was wise. But she could see Brice's dark eyes flashing and his clenched fists, anger with Cal getting all the praise when he worked his ass off, making his own grades suffer in consequence.

'Whereas Brice understands the demands of schoolwork, his music _and _cherishes his Native American roots. I have yet to see as many books about our culture in _Cal's _room, as there are in Brice's,' Huten said, meeting Poppy's eye and smiling.

'That's because Brice is a huge freak with no social life,' Cal muttered under his breath so only Brice and Poppy could hear.

Cal was very jealous of the fact that Brice was Huten's favourite out of him and his brothers. In fact, for reasons he couldn't understand at all, Cal was sure that he was his Grandfather's _least _favourite grandson.

Lois didn't say anything. She loved all her sons equally and wanted the best for all of them. She wanted the old tarnished Native American history to be exactly what it was..._history. _But it was always there at the back of her mind, how her husband's ancestors had suffered and she had always felt guilty that she was white and that her race had put her husband's family through all of it.

They drew into the school grounds and all got out of the car to head to the football field with the other parents, cheerleaders and girlfriends. Poppy felt very out of place. She'd only been to one football game before, when it was Holly's cheerleading debut, and some bitchy sophomores made fun of her kitsch Wonder Woman t-shirt when they realised she was 'amazing-perfect-Holly-Marston's' odd little sister, and she wasn't in any hurry to go to any others.

She saw Alexi, Holly's friend, give her a 'once over' and Poppy turned away, wanting to be spared talking to her.

Cal was instantly engulfed in high fives and back slaps from members of the football team, then grinned at his mom before going off to the changing rooms.

Twenty-five minutes later, Brice, Huten, Poppy and Lois had seats in the bleachers with snacks and drinks and the game had begun.

Poppy could tell immediately that Huten really wasn't interested in the game at all, which made her wonder what he was doing there in the first place. She was all for him showing his support for his conceited grandson, considering that he only saw them about once every two years or so. His penetrating eyes were sweeping the football field, as if he were expecting to see something a bit more dramatic than a game between Carmel's Mission School star footballers and the Drew School.

Lois, on the other hand, was looking completely riveted; she was cheering Cal on like there was no tomorrow, her handsome star quarterback son.

'Want to listen?' Brice elbowed Poppy, looking bored already, holding out one white earphone of his iPod.

She sighed. She could've listened to music at home in the warm.

'It's a favourite,' He said encouragingly.

Poppy smiled, and took it.

She recognised it instantly. 'Today', her favourite Smashing Pumpkins song. Even though it wasn't her favourite song of all time, she was grateful all the same.

It was one of the dullest two hours of Poppy's life. Watching idiots like Cal running up and down a field with a ball wasn't exactly thrilling, and even though she was with Brice, she wished that she were somewhere else. Despite her mood, she couldn't help but notice how closely she was sitting to Brice, and how he had made her a special playlist with all her favourite songs just for tonight. She felt touched but at the same time slightly awkward. She felt like their friendship was changing and didn't quite know if she was ready for it yet. Every time Brice wanted to flick through his iPod his elbow kept touching hers, sending curious electric shocks of happiness through her and waves of disappointment when he moved his arm away.

At the end of the game Brice, Poppy and Lois left the bleachers, and went down to congratulate Cal on his performance in the game. Cal came out of the locker rooms looking exhausted but smug as if anticipating the attention and praise he was about to receive.  
>True to form, Lois came forward and wrapped her arms around her second youngest son. 'My baby! Cal, you were wonderful, well done!' She cooed into his messed up hair.<p>

Cal shrugged her off and looked at Huten expectantly, as if he were daring his grandfather to compliment him as much as his mother had done. Cal desperately wanted his grandfather to accept him, and had played his best match only for him, knowing that he would have a critical eye, looking for mistakes to comment on.

But no such comments came. Huten just said, 'It seems we're not the only ones down here. I'll see you in the parking lot,' and he disappeared, hating crowds because they fogged up his thought space.

Cal stared after him, a stony expression clouding his perfect features.

Brice tried to hide his smile, but Cal still caught him. Letting out a growl, Cal launched himself at his stupid little brother, Brice once again becoming a punch-bag for Cal's pent up hostility and disappointment.

'You fucking prick!' Cal growled, pushing Brice down to the floor.

'_Boys_!' Lois exclaimed, aware that the other parents were observing them in repulsion. But her sons ignored her.

'Let go you freak!' Brice struggled against the floor, but he was laughing at how pathetic his brother was being. He knew exactly what he was thinking, thinking that if he played well, scoring some fantastic points, Huten would favour him. Cal was so predictable; he wanted everyone to fall in love with him...to get his way, so everybody could bend over backwards in order to please him. He was like a child.

'I'm the freak? Where are your friends, science boy?' Cal screeched, hitting Brice in the stomach.

His comment caused Brice to laugh even more.

'Science boy? You really are stupid, I hate science!' this made Cal even angrier. He let out all his frustration into beating his brother to a pulp. All his anger at the inadequate world he had to live in, had to put up with.

Lois let out a little scream of shock when Cal's fist connected with Brice's nose, letting out a stream of blood. Poppy rolled her eyes, but came forward anyway, like she had done so many times before, and wrenched Cal away.

Lois held the brothers far apart, they were both panting and staring at each other with such hate that it was a wonder that steam wasn't coming off them.

Lois went mad, grabbed the two boys by their elbows and steered them in the direction of the car as if they were naughty four year olds, Poppy trailing after them.

'What are you both playing at? How dare you display such insane behaviour? What I wouldn't give to have my sons get on with each other, instead of hate each other for reasons that I cannot even begin to fathom!'

Brice, of course, felt shame and embarrassment for showing up his mother, but Cal looked like he was ready to blow up again.

'You always blame me! It's always _perfect_ Brice and I can't ever do anything right. I play my ass off out here on the football field, to make you and grandfather proud. No matter _what _I do, I'll never be good enough,' Cal shouted, his face coming up with red patches.

Lois stopped in her tracks.

'Cal,' she said in a soothing voice, 'that just isn't true. How could you say something like that? Your father and I love all you boys the same,'

Cal let out a dervish snort and wrenched himself out of her grip. But instead of replying he turned on his heel and strode away in the other direction.

Lois, Poppy and Brice stared after him. Poppy was feeling nervous again. If it weren't for her, the truth about how they felt wouldn't have come out. She was sure the truth spell was amplifying the situation. She hated herself for seeing Brice so crestfallen, broken and angry and felt furious with Cal for once again focussing the attention solely towards him and ruining what could have been a nice family outing. Poppy suddenly understood why Lily got so angry with herself and Holly. Being between two sparring people who should really grow up was an uncomfortable and unfortunate position to be in.

* * *

><p>'Come on,' Eric said, poking Lily with his foot, 'you have to go home sometime,'<p>

'It's not my home,' Lily said immediately, scratching Sheba behind her ears, 'It's just a place where I live,'

They were sitting in his sparse living room which was furnished with only a threadbare tartan sofa, a TV, telephone and bookcase. Eric was sat on the floor in front of Lily while Eric's ancient German Shepard was curled up next to her, her big paws shielding her face. Lily remembered when Eric got her. He was in eighth grade and he had to have braces, and he was so sullen that his Mom Kim gave him a dog to cheer him up. She was a stray, but with a wonderful loyal temperament, and he loved her so much he took her everywhere with him, he even tied her up at school so that he could see her when he was in lessons...or more importantly, when he was out of them.

'I can't believe Phoebe was attacked. I never really thought that we are all in danger. It never really dawned on me before…but seeing Uncle Chris looking so panicked...he's always so strong...'

Lily had never felt so scared in her life. She had a hard time grasping that being a Marston, or rather a Halliwell, meant living a life of fear and bravery.

'You better get used to it,' Eric told her, handing her a beer he had just got from the kitchenette.

The dark street was quiet outside. She felt a lot calmer here than she felt at home.

'I didn't realise it before...maybe I was so wrapped up in-'

'No,' Eric shook his head, 'the family are trying to protect you three. We don't want you to worry about all this…that's why we never really talk about it when you're all around. There's so much you don't know. You've just lost your parents…we can't let you in on everything otherwise you'll implode with all the juicy information.'

'Still, I shouldn't have used my sisters as an outlet for all my inner angst,' Lily said ashamedly, 'Even if Poppy had cast a truth spell'.

She never knew her sisters felt that way about her. Was she really a control freak? Did they really hate her? Oh God...and poor Poppy, she didn't mean to make her cry...but...she was just fed up with being their mother all the time! In a way it was worse when her Mom was alive, mainly because Poppy and Holly basically ran wild as Ivy and Wyatt were never home, and Lily had to always baby-sit them. But she knew she shouldn't have blown up like that.

'How can I go home? I feel so mortified with myself,'

'Don't be,' Eric said, 'you, more than anyone, deserve to be selfish sometimes,'

He smiled when he said this. Advice coming from a guy like him? He normally ate girls like Lily for breakfast. In High School he never paid attention to the geeks, they were all uncoordinated fashion disasters, not that he gave the jocks the time of day either, with their cell phones and designer clothes and daddy's AmEx. He was a rebel...hung out with the bikers and chatted dirt bikes, Heavy Metal and easy white trash girls. He was in biker bars when he was fourteen, got himself into more than a handful of fights at the same age, and had won the respect of anyone that mattered.

Maybe he was tired with the same old things. All the girls he had been with were so stupid and hanging out with Lily made him realise that. Even though they had grown up together, Eric had never really paid attention to her before because it was always Holly demanding the attention, and Lily was the one who kept out of the way, the one who was up in her room reading books or making something for the science fair or watching a medical documentary.

He was so glad that he had got to know her better over the summer, albeit even though the situation was a terrible thing for them to get close over, and realised how much both of them had grown up so quickly.

'So why did Poppy do something like that?' Eric asked in curiosity.

Lily shrugged.

'Attention?' She guessed.

Eric understood. It must be hard living in a house with wonderful Lily and loud Holly, who shone and adored attention.

'Was I a complete banshee earlier?' Lily asked sheepishly.

Eric laughed.

'Ha, not by the standards of the banshees I've encountered,' He said, 'but you were a little shrieky, yeah. But who cares? You needed to get all that out,'

'I think I should go home,' Lily said reluctantly, although she really didn't want to face another showdown with her sisters. 'They should all be home by now.'

'Yeah,' Eric agreed, 'Your Uncle would go mad if you were missing at a time like this and left Holly alone in the house, even if it is protected,'

Lily nodded and went to get her coat.

'Thanks for helping,' She said, touching Eric's arm.

Eric smiled and opened the door.

'Anytime,' He said, locking it behind them, 'I have to pay you back for all those meals in the summer anyway. I'm not charity case'.

The two moved their way down the stairs, talking softly to each other. As soon as they disappeared from sight, a figure emerged out of the wall opposite Eric's front door, blinking rapidly. He stared for a moment at the door of Eric's apartment then, smiled, then shimmered away, making a ripple in the air with his dark cloak

* * *

><p><em>Apologies for the bad language. Just wanted to be truthful of how we all get when we lose our temper! Storymagical/demonic stuff is going to hot up soon. Keep reading to find out what's in store for the girls and their friends! Some things may be surprising, hope you like it all! As always, please review :)_


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

'Oh Lily' Phoebe cried, rushing forwards to wrap her arms around her as she walked through the front door.

Lily hung limp in Great Aunt Phoebe's arms, her arms pinned down to her sides. Lily had been nervous on the ride over, even though she was on the back of a Harley, so there really _was _something to be nervous about anyway. She was bracing herself for the Spanish Inquisition as soon as she stepped through the door, but by the look on her great aunt's face, it looked like she was just glad Lily was safe.

'Where's Uncle Chris?' Lily asked. He hadn't strode into the hall shouting about how disappointed he had been in her about leaving her sisters alone in the house.

'He had to go into the office. I said that I'd let him know when you came home,'

When Phoebe let go she could see that she was the only one that came out to greet her. As Eric and Lily both walked into the house Phoebe indicated them to take a seat with her in the lounge, where she had been spending the evening watching television with a tub of ice-cream.

'Where's Holly and Poppy?' Lily asked.

'Holly's in bed and Poppy's still with the Whitepath's,'

Lily inwardly sighed with relief. She was glad she didn't have to face them. Even though this was cowardly, Lily decided she didn't care. She was _tired. _She was tired of looking after everyone.

'I'm so glad that you were with her, Eric,' Phoebe shot Eric a thankful look, 'Once Coop and I came home and discovered you weren't here we were so worried that the demon got you,'

'Which one was it?' He asked in interest.

'Another one of Barbas's minions. I'm beginning to get rather concerned with how many demons he seems to suddenly have in his employ. Something's going on. I don't like it. I've never felt so many steps behind in years. I just hope to God he doesn't know about the girls and that this is all about an old grudge, because Barbas capturing Wyatt's children's powers to sell to some warlock or worse, that doesn't bear thinking about.'

'I don't understand what they'd want with me anyway,' said Lily grumpily, 'It's not like I have active powers is it? Seeing the future or the past isn't exactly desirable. That's if my powers _worked_'. Poppy's truth spell was obviously still lingering. Lily had never expressed her dissatisfaction with her powers before now.

Phoebe didn't notice anything particularly out of the ordinary in Lily's remark, but a grin did pass over her face.

'You sound just like me,' She said, 'I always wanted Prue's powers. And they will come to you in time, honey, believe me,'

'So,' Lily asked, the subject of her powers was a touchy issue with her, 'What happened?'

'It was a stupid amateur attack,' Phoebe said in a hollow voice, 'But we managed to sort it out. Minimal casualties which we managed to pass over for a broken gas main,'

'Grandpa's all right isn't he?' Eric asked hurriedly, realising that Coop wasn't there.

Phoebe looked at Eric with her eyes narrowed.

'And where were _you _Eric? You should have been fighting with us or looking after the girls. You were doing neither for about four hours I heard from Holly,'

Eric looked angry but he didn't say anything to alleviate her annoyance at him.

'And yes, your grandfather is fine,' She said, 'He got called away to work with one of his charges. Can you imagine? Romance after the day we had, I wonder how Coop can stomach it after all these years'.

'What's wrong?' Lily asked, noticing that Phoebe was still looking troubled.

Phoebe just shook her head. She couldn't let Lily know what was bothering her. How much she worried day and night. She didn't want what happened to Kim, Isobel and Violet to happen to her only grandson. And the girls. So young and free. This life shouldn't have come to them, not yet at least. Poppy was only fourteen. Things had changed since her own children were young and Wyatt and Chris were boys. It was so dangerous these days that binding a young witches powers until they came of age was the only real solution to the problem. Even though it meant bucket loads of resentment once they 'discovered' their lives hitherto had been a 'lie', it was worth it in the long run. But there was nothing Phoebe could do to truly protect the girls anymore except put them on a 'need to know' basis.

'It's nothing, honey,' Phoebe said, getting up. She could see that Lily was hurt she hadn't confided in her, but there was nothing she could do about that. All Phoebe wanted to do was protect the ones she loved, the ones she had left. 'Have you eaten?'

Lily shook her head.

'Right, well I'll fix you up some left over casserole. Eric? Are you staying?' Phoebe asked Eric.

She looked between Lily and Eric and noticed a sudden closeness between the two.

'No thanks Grams,' Eric said, and he made his way to the door. 'I just wanted to see Lily safe home,'

Lily followed him.

'Thanks for everything,' Lily said warmly. 'I feel a bit stupid about blowing up like that.'

'I'm here for you Lily. I know things are a bit tough for you, with your sisters sometimes. Just so you know, if Poppy casts any more spells,' He had dropped his voice to a mischievous whisper at this point, 'You can always hide at my place,'

Although there was a hint of suggestiveness about this statement Lily knew him well enough to see through it.

'Even if my Chris'd blow a capillary or two if he found out?' Lily smirked, but was touched at the gesture.

Eric pretended to be hurt.

'He doesn't hate me _that _much,' He pouted.

* * *

><p>'So here we are,' Huten said to Poppy as he pulled up outside of the manor.<p>

It was nearly eleven and Huten was driving Poppy home after Cal had finally come home. When she and Brice had got home after the game, they had spent the rest of the night watching _Gooseberry _play before they left to go to the _View. _Cal, drunk and incoherent when he stumbled through the door ten minutes ago caused Drake, Brice's father, to shout at him for being so irresponsible, and while the argument was propelling itself out of control, Huten took it as an opportunity to drive Poppy home. Poppy couldn't even say thank you to Brice's Mom, as she was crying so hard she was almost in hysterics over Cal.

Poppy found that she liked Huten a lot. She liked the way that he gave Brice a chance and listened to what he had to say at dinner, something which neither Drake or Lois seemed to do when the more 'talented' Whitepaths were around. It was good to have Huten around Brice. Brice needed someone to believe in him.

'Thank you for driving me home,' Poppy said; unbuckling her seatbelt, 'It was nice to meet you,'

'I hope to see you again soon,'

Poppy smiled and got out of the car.

'Aren't you going to walk her up?' Huten asked Brice. Huten looked pretty serious about this. After a few wasted moments of Brice steadily becoming more flustered under Huten's unwielding gaze, Brice cleared his throat and hopped out of the car.

'Wait,' Brice called to Poppy, who turned, surprised, 'I'll walk you up,'

Poppy waited until he caught up with her. She smiled at him, and they walked their way up the path.

'What do you think of him?' Brice asked nervously making conversation, 'He's cool right? Isn't he cool?'

'Very cool,' Poppy grinned.

Brice let out a sigh of relief, which made Poppy grin harder.

He noticed.

'What?' He asked.

Poppy actually laughed.

'What?' He asked again.

She didn't reply, just shrugged.

Brice was annoyed. This was his thing. _He _laughed at Poppy when she was stupid; he was the one that cracked the jokes.

'Well, this is my stop,' Poppy joked when they reached the door.

Brice just stared at her, even more irritated. He didn't know what he was expecting when he invited her to spend the day with him...not a date...but...yeah, something along those lines. And now she was just casually ending the evening? This did not improve his mood.

'See ya?' He said uncertainly, raising an eyebrow.

What is wrong with him? Poppy wondered, he'd been acting strange all evening. When they were watching _Gooseberry _play an old _Incubus_ song, Brice kept tutting and yelling at her for singing it under her breath.

She stared at Brice's raised eyebrow, and felt even more pissed off. Why was he acting all high and mighty on her? What did he want?

Poppy turned on her heel without even saying goodbye, walked through the front door, and slammed it in his face.

Brice let out a low growl, and stomped back down to his parents Land Rover, and slammed the door himself.

His grandfather stared at him.

'What did you expect? A kiss?' He chuckled, and amidst Brice's deep blush, he pulled away from the curb, and drove to the other side of the bay with a knowing look on his face.

* * *

><p>'Poppy? Is that you?' Holly whispered through the crack in the door, calling down the hall when she heard footsteps.<p>

'Holly?' It was Lily.

Holly stopped short at the sight of her.

'Oh, I thought it was Poppy,'

'Yeah I guessed,'

There was an awkward pause.

'So...' Holly said, 'Still mad at us?' She wasn't going to beat around the bush.

Lily cringed.

'No, look, can we just forget about the whole thing? We're so lucky that no one didn't find out,'

Holly just shrugged.

'Yeah, whatever,'

'What are you doing in bed anyway? It's only eleven. Don't you have some party to be at?'

For some reason Holly snorted.

'No, and where were _you?_' Holly asked, but Lily was pleased to see that Holly was looking genuinely interested, instead of scornful.

'I just walked around for a bit...'

Holly's blue eyes widened.

'You were "just walking around"? Are you out of your mind?'

Lily smiled in spite of herself.

'I'm safe...I'm tired...I'm going to go to bed. I just wanted to see if you were OK?'

Holly nodded impatiently.

'Yeah well...has Poppy come home yet? I want to know how it went with Brice,'

'It was a disaster,' Came a dejected voice from behind them. Lily spun around to see Poppy coming up the stairs.

'Didn't go so well then Pop?' Holly asked sympathetically.

Poppy looked utterly miserable, and oddly angry, which was strange for her.

'I will never understand boys,' was all she would say.

Lily smiled.

'Now you know why I stay away from them,'

'Oh yeah?' Holly laughed. 'What do you call Scott?'

'The reason why I stay away from boys,' Lily said, laughing.

Poppy didn't smile.

'Well, I'm going to bed too, school's in the morning,'

Holly groaned.

'Oh God! I haven't finished my History assignment. Mrs King is going to be after my blood,'

'I didn't know she was a vampire,' Lily smirked.

Poppy raised an eyebrow.

'What have you been doing all day? I mean, you've had the whole weekend to do that assignment,'

Holly went red for some reason and mumbled, 'I've been busy,'

'I'm sure Owen East has got better things to do than call you. I think he works at the comic book store and the independent cinema downtown, I always see him there. I guess you're not used to not having a guy calling you up all hours of the day,' Poppy teased, the truth spell obviously still lingering.

'So much for me helping you again!' Holly laughed.

The girls all bade each other goodnight, and turned to go into their separate bedrooms.

* * *

><p><em>Aren't Brice and Poppy cute? aww! I hope you love them as much as I do! <em>


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

In the morning, Holly was running late as usual.

'Holly! For heavens sake!' Lily called up the stairs, losing her patience. She tapped her foot repetitively against the wooden floor, to an extent that even carefree Poppy snapped.

'Will you knock it off?'

Poppy was wearing a pink t-shirt under her dark green velvet jacket. On her feet she wore her beat up Keds and a scarf tied loosely around her neck.

Lily, on the other hand, looked so drawn and serious, with her long dark hair styled in a knot at the back of her head, plain purple shirt, black pencil skirt and Indian slippers, that she could have looked ten years older than she actually was. If it weren't for her mother's old ethnic necklace, Lily could have been mistaken for a supply teacher.

Holly came whisking down the stairs, and blew the whole wardrobe competition away. She was wearing brown high-heeled suede boots, a tiny khaki mini, and a white tank top with glittery silver netting over it, and a tight denim jacket that barely concealed her swelling cleavage. The reason why she had taken so long was because she had gone for the 'blow out' look; as a result her hair was styled artfully so that there were just a few waves framing her face.

'Ready now?' Uncle Chris asked as he joined the girls in the hall, putting on his coat to greet the chilly November air.

Holly beamed and grabbed her scarf and Doonie and Bourke bag. Lily dipped low to pick up her shoulder bag, and Poppy scooped up her backpack. They all headed out into the weak sunshine.

'Now, I want you all home tonight. Coop's cooking for us all and wants everyone there. That means you as well Holly,' Uncle Chris added, giving her the eye in the rear-view mirror.

Holly rolled her own eyes.

'Why do you always expect the worst from me?'

'Yeah, she's not Cal Whitepath,' Poppy sniggered, which even made Lily smile.

When they got into school, after promising their uncle that they'd behave themselves, the girls all went their separate ways. Holly ambled up the steps, enjoying the masses of boys who were staring at her, goggle-eyed. No doubt it was her new top.

Then she was pounced upon by Alexi and her good mood instantly went elsewhere.

'Holly. Now I'm not even going to take no for an answer, who _is _this guy you're into?'

Holly looked severely taken aback.

'Guy? What guy?'

Alexi looked amused.

'Oh, so you don't know the guy your sister says you're into?'

'Which sister?'

Alexi grew impatient.

'You have more than one?' She pointed to Poppy who was walking up the main steps, to the art rooms where hers and Brice's homeroom was. 'That one. Penny,'

'Her name is Poppy.'

'It is?' Alexi raised a pencilled eyebrow. 'OK, whatever,'

'When did you hear Poppy say I was into someone?' Holly folded her arms across her chest.

'Last night at the football game,' Alexi told her impatiently, 'She was talking to Cal's younger brother Brad in the bleachers.'

That damn truth spell, Holly fumed inwardly.

'What is it that you really want Alexi?' Holly snapped in an effort to divert the attention.

Now it was her turn to look taken aback. She grabbed Holly's arm and, before she could protest, Holly was dragged over to the bike stands where all the sophomore jocks and cheerleaders hung out, a group which included Cal Whitepath, who she couldn't stand, and her ex Danny. She nearly choked in surprise when Danny smiled and came over to put his arm around her. She had to endure the after game talk, which included several secret eye rolls on her behalf because everyone was saying 'how good the party was' and 'you should have _so _been there'.

'What are you doing?' Holly whispered to Danny, getting extremely agitated and uncomfortable with his arm draped over her.

Danny looked surprised.

'Just looking after my best girl!' He said.

Just when he said that, Holly caught sight of Owen making his way up the steps and into school. She had the sudden impulse to wave, and she did wave her arm, but either Owen was making an effort _not _to look at her or he didn't see her, either way she still made a fool out of herself.

'What are you doing?' Asked Cal, and Holly noticed the whole group's chatter had ceased.

Holly's face grew hot. Should it really matter whom she made friends with? Of course it mattered.

Holly made an effort to regain her 'Ice Queen' composure.

'What's it to you dick shit?' She snapped at Cal, who smirked. 'I just saw my sister if you must know,'

It was true, Lily was also making her way into the school building, head bent down low, mountains of books in her arms.

'And get your arm off me!'

Danny withdrew his arm from Holly's shoulder, scowling at how annoying girls could be sometimes.

The bell rang shortly afterwards, and then the crowd dispersed into their separate homerooms, briefly meeting at their lockers to dispose of their bags. Holly sped away from them, feeling incredibly angry that she still sort of felt a place in the group.

'Hey Scott,' Lily said to him as she sat down in the seat next to him, determined to make amends.

Scott didn't turn around.

Oh dear, Lily thought.

'Scott?' She asked again.

'Yes?' He sighed, turning around slowly and gazing down his long nose at her with a huge amount of distain.

'Um…' Lily felt her throat seize with the awkwardness, 'I just want to apologise for yesterday. You know, with my cousin?'

'The alternative person that was in your house you mean?'

'Uh…' Confronted with his snotty behaviour made it hard for Lily to want to continue apologising, 'Yeah.'

'Apology accepted,' Scott said briskly, 'Now, do you know where Myra is?'

'No,' Lily sighed, 'I haven't seen or heard from her all weekend,'

'OK…well, let me know if you see her because I need her to look over my cover letters and CVs that I wish to distribute around the city for work experience over Christmas,'

And it was back on him again. Lily had foolishly thought that he would apologise for his behaviour himself, but obviously not.

'Yeah…will do,'

* * *

><p>When Poppy got to her own homeroom, she saw that Brice had sat in a different seat, but unfortunately for him, there was a spare seat next to it.<p>

When Mr J had taken the register, they were allowed to talk. But Brice wasn't talking to Poppy at all. Poppy stared at him for a whole minute, and not even that, even though she was sure Brice knew she was staring at him, could make his big brown eyes look at her.

'_What _is your problem?' Poppy hissed, slamming her hand down on his desk, over the book _'A Cross-Section of Human Counter-culture: from Patti Smith to the Black Panthers_ '.

Brice looked up, and swept his hair away from his face. But instead of replying to Poppy, he talked to a blonde girl behind him.

'Hey Mandy, did you watch _American Idol_ last night? Wasn't that fat guy Dave really funny?'

Poppy felt her eyes prickle with tears at Mandy's sweet giggle at his comment. That was what _she _and Brice did, they watched reality TV together, to laugh at the hopeless cases that went on these shows and how ridiculous they looked and sounded. How _could _he talk to another girl about it? Especially _Mandy, _who was so stupid, she was taking freshman year again after flunking it the first time.

When the bell rang for first period, she ran out of the classroom she tripped and her backpack fell on the floor causing its entire contents to spill everywhere. She held back the whole of her homeroom just clearing up all her books.

Brice saw this, and the tears brimming in her eyes, and felt really bad. He didn't _mean _to make her upset; he just wanted a little payback from how humiliated he felt when she slammed the door in his face the night before.

He rushed up to where she was crouched on the floor when everyone else had gone off to class, and bent low to help pick up her books.

'I'm sorry,' He muttered in a low voice.

Poppy felt so humiliated.

'I know this is going to be such a shit day,' she said miserably, getting up and slinging her bag over her shoulder, 'I just know it.'

She wiped her face with the back of her hand.

'Come on; let's get to Algebra before Mr Olson gets on our backs,'

With an arm over her shoulder, both feeling incredibly brave and stupid at the same time, Brice guided her down the corridor to their Math room.

* * *

><p>Holly sat in her English class feeling elated. Mrs King was sick today, so that meant she wasn't going to be skinned for not completing her essay for History. She was planning to do it at lunch, in the library, where she was also hoping she would magically, no pun intended, bump into Owen.<p>

She looked over at him sitting by the window in the row next to her, where she could see he wasn't reading the text their teacher had assigned. Instead, underneath his copy of "Of Mice and Men," he had a physics textbook open, where he was working his way through some problems. Holly smiled at this, even though she couldn't actually believe she was doing it. A month ago, she would have laughed at such geekish behaviour, especially from pompous Owen East who used to make her life a living hell. But now...she just thought it was oddly cute the way he thought that nobody was watching him...or so she thought.

'Will you stop looking at me?' Owen said, turning around, smiling.

Holly blinked.

'I wasn't,' she said automatically, and looked down at her book.

She heard him snigger.

'Ok scrap that,' she muttered, 'he's not so cute anymore,'

'Holly! No talking while the class is reading the text, unless you've finished?'

'I er-' Holly stammered, who of course hadn't read the text at all in the assigned fifteen minutes to catch up on the chapter, but Mr Giddens cut across her.

'Good, now we'll open the discussion with you. Do you feel sympathy for George, when he accidentally smothers his mouse?'

'He smothers his mouse?' Holly squeaked, flicking through the book to find the correct pages in disgusted panic.

A smile flickered on Mr Giddens's face.

'Can someone who has finished the chapter tell us their opinion of George?'

Owen put his hand up.

'I feel sympathy with him. In a way, his mouse was his only true friend. It's endearing to see someone with a mental disability nurture and care for something when he can't take control of his own life. It's a stark contrast to the way in which he and his brother are treated.'

'_He _has a mental problem?' Cal Whitepath muttered under his breath, causing Alexi Newberry to burst into hysterics.

'And,' Owen continued loudly, 'His mouse was his only comfort in a new environment. I feel sorry for George now that he is all alone in the world, without anyone to 'understand' him'

Mr Giddens nodded in agreement.

'I can see you've read the text before. We were due to discuss the meaning of the mouse's role in tomorrow's lesson,'

The bell rang for lunch and the class instantly started packing away.

'And for anyone who _will _bother with tonight's homework,' Mr Giddens called, smirking at Holly, 'I want you to read the next chapter and see what you if you can understand what Owen means by his 'comfort' comment,'

Holly made it out of the classroom, and made to follow Owen, whom she could see was heading to the library, but Cal Whitepath had called her back.

'Yo Hol. Understand _anything _of what that freakshow East said in there? What the hell was that all about with the mouse?' Cal was still packing his books away, but he nodded at the disappearing figure of Owen down the hall.

Holly sighed.

'No, you know I didn't Cal. I didn't, _like you, _read the text,'

'Yeah 'cause you were so busy staring out of the window. What's so fascinating out there anyway? Danny's not at practise y'know,' Cal grinned.

'Yeah Holly,' Alexi grinned, joining in their conversation, 'I thought you were into someone else?'

'Are you?' Cal asked in cool surprise, 'that's a bit quick; I thought you both were, like, in love with each other. He's completely torn up about what happened,'

'He broke up with me!' Holly cried furiously, 'And do you seriously call 'torn-up' staring down Chelsea Simons shirt?'

'Well,' Alexi smirked, 'She's certainly more racked than you,'

Holly felt like punching her.

Cal must've noticed.

'Aren't we feeling nasty today?' He asked Alexi, not impressed.

'Oh shut up Cal,' Holly snapped, 'You're just as bad as each other,'

She turned on her heel and headed off to the library at top speed.

'Hey Hol! You can't keep the bitch act up for much longer, it's becoming extremely _bor-ing,' _Cal called after her.

Holly wished that Cal would get a life. He had always been like that, wanting the last word. There was a time where she was thought that he could do no wrong, but then after her Mom died, and she saw how self-obsessed he was, she thought she was in a real need of a personality transplant. Cal was such a wannabe. She didn't understand why everyone loved him.

True, he did come from a _pretty _awesome family. The eldest Whitepath's were the elite, Henry the really smart one, who in his final year at Columbia studying Chemical Engineering and Joe who was at Harvard doing Law. Then there was Freddy. He was so cool, the most popular boy in school, and so _nice. _ Everyone was in love with him. The cool gene seemed to have skipped the next two Whitepath's altogether. Cal was the biggest idiot on the earth, and Brice...well there wasn't anything _strictly _wrong with him, but he was a bit of a wimp when it came to making friends. And what was up with his hair? So _70's _Poppy had said!Translation to Holly's language and the language of Modern America? So _over. _

She entered the library still reeling from her conversation with Alexi and Cal and spotted Owen sitting at the same table.

'Hey,' She breathed, dropping her bag down on the table next to him, and getting out her History stuff. 'Don't mind if I sit here do you?'

Owen raised an eyebrow.

'Nothing I can do to stop you now is there?'

Holly laughed, rather nervously and loudly, but then realised it wasn't a joke

'As long as you don't talk to me. I've got to get this done,' Owen indicated the formulae in front of him.

Halfway through Holly's essay, and halfway through enduring half an hour of Owen's frustrated noises and impatient crossing outs Holly decided to make conversation.

'So...what are you doing?'

'Just something to improve my transcripts for Stanford,' He shrugged.

'You're thinking about college already?'

'Yeah,' Owen looked surprised, 'Aren't you?'

'No…' Holly grinned in spite of herself. 'So that's where the Of Mice and Men fascination comes from? To impress Stanford?'

Owen stared at her like she was nuts.

'No,' He told her slowly, 'it comes from the fact that Steinbeck is a classic when it comes to American Literature, which we're studying this term.'

'You're as bad as a girl, do y'know that? It's like you always have PMS,' Holly hissed at him.

'Oh I'm sorry the attention isn't on you. But some of us need to complete this in case we want to be entered into the science fair this year,'

When had he reverted back to the old Owen? What had she done?

'My sister could help you,'

'Poppy? I don't think so,'

'I have more than one sister Owen. Lily, she's into science, she'll be glad to help. She has a 4.0 GPA and works at the tutor center.'

'No thank you,' Owen bit out sarcastically.

Holly actually blew out some air in frustration.

'What the _hell _is the matter with you?'

'I just want to get this done! I don't want to be distracted by someone like you!'

'I'm a distraction?' Holly said loudly, standing up.

'YES!' Owen said in a furious whisper, green eyes flashing.

'Fine,' Holly said, bright pink spots erupting on her cheeks,

'You're communication skills suck by the way. You'll really impress Stanford with your appalling ability to converse,'

'Wow, a word like 'converse' came out of your mouth. How dexterous of you,'

'Dexter? _You're _the science boy in case you've forgotten,' Holly snapped, and grabbed her things and headed out of the room. Great, she thought angrily, in all the fuss she hadn't had time to finish her essay either.

* * *

><p>'Isn't that your sister?' Brice said to Poppy through a mouth full of turkey sandwich. Poppy looked back at school, and saw Holly coming out of the library looking murderous. They were both sitting in their usual spot by the football field and the main gates.<p>

'What, or who, has rattled her cage?' Brice wondered.

Poppy shrugged, and turned her attention back to the black SUV that was parked just outside the school gates, which Poppy knew had been sitting there since Uncle Chris had dropped them off at school that morning.

'Do you realise that that car has been stopped there since first thing this morning?' She asked Brice, she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer.

Brice looked over, and his eyebrows furrowed.

'You're right. What are they? Feds?' He laughed.

'You could be right,' Poppy got up. 'I'm going over there to check it out,'

'Are you on crack?' Brice asked immediately, all humour vanishing and following her fast, 'of course they're not Feds. Look,' He pointed to the licence plate, 'they're from out of town. Just tourists,' He tried to distract her but it was useless. She was always so damn curious about _everything. _

'I still wanna go over,' She said, 'Something's not right,'

'I agree, but you can't just go walking out of school,' She ignored him, 'Who died and made you Nancy Drew?'

Poppy turned back to give Brice a withering look.

'No one. But it's not right. A car parked outside a school all day, there could be surveillance equipment in there. He could be recording us.'

Brice grabbed her arm.

'No, Pop…I don't think – '

'Look, I'm only going to have a look,' She said, 'What's got into you?'

Brice dropped her arm as if it were red hot.

'Nothing,' His face closing. 'I'm not coming with you, this is stupid. You're going to look like an ass,'

'I don't care,' Poppy said defiantly. She carried on, and with a slightly fretful look at the school behind her, she walked over to the big black SUV and tapped on the drivers side window.

Nothing happened. But she knew to trust her instinct. She just _knew _that there was something fishy going on, and it was up to her to find out what.

She rapped on the window again and waited there for several more beats. Again, nothing happened.

Feeling crestfallen, she turned back to Brice, who was about 100 metres away from her now looking at her with a pissed off expression with his arms folded across his chest. But before she got a chance to raise her shoulders to shrug, she heard a chilling voice in her ear, a voice that sounded as evil as something out of a Steven King novel; 'Curiosity killed the cat'.

Poppy felt something hard whack her over the head. Before she knew what was happening she started to fall and then everything went black.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for the sudden flurry of chapters! I'm going to be working quite a bit this week so wanted to give you something to think about while I finish editing the next few chapters. I do have a question though:Who do you think is a more viable love interest for Lily? Freddy or Eric? Thanks as always for reading and reviewing. You are all so kind and brilliant, it means a lot that you like and have stuck with the story. Sorry to have left it on such a cliff-hanger! x<em>


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

'What the-' Brice gasped. He felt his legs break into action underneath him and before he knew it he was running. Two men had come out of the SUV and hit Poppy on the head. The next thing he knew they were dragging her in the back of the car and speeding up the road, so fast it seemed unbelievable. Brice couldn't keep up with them, tears were streaming from his eyes, whether from the wind that was blowing harshly against his face as he ran up the street or from fright he didn't quite know. It was no use, the car was at the top of the street now. He didn't even have a chance to get the license number from the vehicle. He stopped, gasping for air from his futile sprint, doubled over and put his hands on his knees.

'What's going on?' There was a strong hand gripping his arm.

Brice spun around and saw a panicked Holly standing next to him. How did she get here so fast?

'Holly...' He struggled out and took a deep breath, his mind whirring with shock, '... you're not going to believe this, but I think Poppy's just been..._kidnapped_,'

They both stared at the spot where the SUV had vanished into the horizon.

'This cannot be happening…not again…not again,' Holly said, her breath raggedy, her eyes wide in her face which had suddenly been drained of color.

'We need to tell the call the police,' Brice made to head back into school but Holly held him back.

'No!' She exclaimed, digging her nails into his arm.

'Why not?'

'We can't do that. Please, just tell me _exactly _what happened.'

Brice took a deep breath and tried to remember. It had all happened so fast.

'There was this huge black Trans Am parked just there,' He pointed to the main school gate by the parking lot, 'and Poppy went over to check it out-'

'And you didn't try to _stop _her?' She made it sound like it was his fault.

'I went with her, I tried to stop her...it was so stupid. I thought they were tourists,' He was shaking, '_Terrorists_ more like,'

Brice felt as if the whole light in the world had gone out. He had learned things in the past few weeks that had made his hair stand on end. He had always known the world wasn't a perfect place, and from an early age his grandfather had told him all about what kind of scum walked the earth unchecked. Brice never really worried about it before, he never thought that world would infiltrate its way onto his. But Holly brought him out of his reverie.

'Well I'm just going to have to try and follow it, it went that way right?'

Brice marvelled at her logic.

'We can't just … We have to tell the principal,'

But Holly wasn't paying any attention to him.

'There's no _we _Brice,' She told him impatiently. 'You need to stay here and find my sister. Tell Lily…'

'You're not doing anything without me, Poppy's my best friend! I care about her as much as you do!'

Holly let out an impatient noise. They were losing time. If demons had got her sister, they had to want something. Phoebe had always said Demons were interested in their powers. That had to be it. They had to be after Poppy's powers.

'Look,' She grabbed his arms, imploring him. 'Just find Lily, tell her everything, and I'll go home to scr- I mean, I'll tell my uncle,' She had just been about to say 'scry', a process where you dangled a crystal over a map to find missing witches or demons.

Brice looked reluctant.

'I still think we should tell the police,'

'The police'll take hours to find her; we haven't got that much time.'

'How can you find her faster than the police?'

'Honestly, we have to do it this way. Poppy will tell you why!'

'But Poppy's not even here!' Brice bellowed through gritted teeth.

'Oh shut up Brice. You just don't understand. Just get my sister and tell her what's happening. And under _no _circumstance do you tell the police _or _the principal,'

Brice opened his mouth to protest once more but she was already dashing up the road, her suede boots hitted the pavement with determination. He felt a sinking feeling in his chest. Little did Holly know, Brice knew more about the situation than she thought.

* * *

><p>Holly burst into the house twenty minutes later after flat out sprinting and ran straight to the kitchen only to find it empty. Holly felt a lump of horror rise in her throat.<p>

'Great Aunt Phoebe!' She shouted, 'Great Uncle Coop!'

That was all she needed. Who was going to help her? What was she going to do? She went back to her original plan, thinking of poor Poppy lying somewhere, afraid and alone, and scavenged through a kitchen drawer to find the San Francisco Bay area map and clear quartz crystal pendant. With them, she made her way up the stairs, trying to get her head around everything.

She had no idea where Phoebe and Coop were, they only worked half days, and neither of them were answering their cell phones, which Holly had been ringing alternatively non-stop all the run home. Chris wasn't answering either, she supposed he was in court. She decided to move forward and find Poppy herself. The main priority was Poppy's life, and if they weren't around to help her she would have to do it herself.

What the hell were demons' driving an SUV anyway? She wasn't sure that it _was _demons who took her sister, but that was the only possible explanation.

But without Coop, Chris or Phoebe Holly knew she still needed back up.

'Oh screw it,' Holly sighed as she burst into the attic, spreading the map over an old table. 'LILY!'

Oh my God, Holly thought in desperation, _please _work! This was the first time she _wanted _to use her powers…they just had to work! She stood there in the middle of the attic, trying to catch her breath from all the running.

Nothing was happening.

Holly took a deep breath and shooed away the 'anti-magic' feelings that were surfacing; the old 'If it wasn't for magic my life wouldn't be hell' thoughts that polluted her far too often.

'Lily!' Holly repeated more frantically, beginning to lose her patience, 'Lily, Lily, Lily…LILY!'

Then it happened.

In a burst of bright, blinding light, Lily came swirling into the attic, landing unsteadily on the Persian rug and having to clutch the back of an old rocking chair to support herself.

'You're lucky no one was around when you summoned me,' Lily scolded.

'Did Brice tell you what happened?' Holly jumped straight to the matter at hand, still awfully surprised that she wasn't panicking and hiding in a corner about the situation.

'Yeah, I was on my way home. What are you doing up here?' Lily looked over at the table and saw the map of the area and the quartz crystal. 'Oh, good idea,'

The sisters went over to the table, and Lily flattened the map again.

Holly picked up the necklace and, dangling it over the map, began to swing the crystal over it in concentric circles.

'I hope to God this works,' Lily said anxiously. They had never scryed before.

'Well, we've seen Great Aunt Phoebe do it loads of times, so we know the drill,'

'But what if it doesn't? What if we _never _get Poppy back?' Lily tried to control the alarm entering her voice. She couldn't believe that Holly had successfully summoned her from school which, she had to admit, even at a time like this, was a really cool bit of magic.

'Of course it's going to work,' Holly snapped, 'I've done it before. When you went walk about after the truth spell, I came up here and scryed for you. That's how I knew you were at Eric's even though you didn't tell us where you were,'

Lily was amazed at this information. Holly had been seriously worried about her. She stared down at the crystal Holly was swinging vigorously over the map.

'It's not working,' Lily said through gritted teeth.

'Oh come _on!' _Holly urged, swinging the crystal back and forth, even over the areas outside of the city itself, in rhythmic pattern.

'Brice is really worried,' Lily told her, 'He seems to think he knows who did this…I don't know, he wanted to call his grandfather. He kept saying Huten would know what to do,'

Holly stopped scrying, momentarily stunned.

'We can't get him involved. And what would an old medicine man know about demons?'

'What do they want with her?' Lily sat down on the moth eaten ancient couch and put her head in her hands.

'Her powers probably. Now just concentrate. I'll keep scrying and you can look through the book. Find spells or_ something _that might lead us to where she is,'

'We don't need to,' Lily pointed to the crystal, which had magically stopped swinging and was poised in position.

Holly looked at the map.

'15th and 3rd Lark Street,' She retorted. 'I have no idea where that is,'

Holly looked at her sister hopelessly.

'I do,' Lily said in toneless terror, 'It's Eric's part of town'.

* * *

><p>When Poppy came to, she realised she had been bound and gagged in a dark, dank room. She was still weary, but slowly gaining her consciousness again. All she heard were voices directly above her and the sound of running water. She was aware that her wrists hurt, and she could feel something warm and sticky matting the back of her head.<p>

_Blood. _

Poppy had never felt so frightened. She used to dream of moments like this, where she would act the heroine and save the day...but what did she have to save now? She couldn't remember. She couldn't believe how stupid she had been. All that was going through her head was how she got to be in a place like this. Who did this to her? What did the voices of the people upstairswant with her?

She searched her mind, trying to recall how to use her power of telepathic communication, but she couldn't even remember how to do that. It had been _that _long since she had used it. So long in fact that she wasn't even sure who to try and contact. Uncle Chris. Uncle Chris would know what to do. She searched her brain, relaxing every molecule in her body, slowing down her breathing rate so that she was in tune with her surroundings. Then the voices came. She tried to recognise the voices, and try and contact one of them...but there were so many that she couldn't identify any one of them.

She could definitely hear footsteps coming from somewhere, getting louder, closer. Were they going to kill her?

Realising she had little time to lose, she focussed back on the swirl of voices within her mind. After what felt like an age she identified a voice in the mass that was around her. She contacted it...still unsure of her ability, yet somehow instinct took over.

'Hello?' Her telepathic voice was weak and shaky, 'Hello? Can you hear me?'

'Oh hey Poppy. Look, I can't talk now-'

'Oh Eric!' She cried in panic.

'Hey…what's wrong? Where are you?'

'I d—d-don't know...where I am...you've got to get Uncle Chris.'

'Poppy,' He said in a firm voice, 'what happened?'

'Your v-v-voice was the nearest. I...I've b-b-b-been kidnapped or something...there...were these guys, I don't know who t-t-t-they are...I don't know w-w-where I am,'

'Whoa, slow down. Keep calm. I'll find you. I'll be there as soon as I can. Sit tight. _Tell them nothing_.' It was all well and good him saying it, but he wasn't in the position she was, a particularly uncomfortable one tied up against what seemed like a filthy water pipe.

The connection faded, which was a good thing because someone lifted off the material that was binding mouth and eyes. The light that was in the room was so bright, Poppy's eyes watered, and she had to blink several times to get focus.

'Why hello,'

Poppy was horrified. The person in front of her was grotesque, with oddly shapen eyes and huge bat like ears that were overturned.

A demon.

She was too afraid to speak.

'Well...lucky for you it was me who got you, huh?' The demon laughed, spraying bits of rank breath over her face.

'You don't think so do you? I can see it in your eyes. I don't blame you kid. Don't worry; I'm not going to hurt you. It's not you I want,' the demon sat down on a wicker chair on the other side of the chapel like room, but still kept a watch on her. There were two smaller demons standing either side of him, which were, if possible, even uglier than him. They looked like bodyguards.

'Witches,' He chuckled, eying her, 'Too curious for their own good. Glad we picked you, works to our advantage,'

'What do you want?' Poppy croaked, feeling some bravery enter her voice.

'I can't tell you that, especially since you're a Charmed One. But I can see your powers are underdeveloped. You're no use to us now. In a few more years maybe we'll pay you another visit-'

'And who'll be calling?'

The demon laughed loudly.

'True, I have not introduced myself. I'm Bill,'

'Bill?' Poppy repeated, finding it hard to believe. Nice name for a ferocious demon like him.

Bill narrowed his eyes.

'Short for Biollopium,' He snapped, 'I'm beginning to lose my patience with you. Want me to blind you again?'

Poppy turned away, not saying anything.

The demon seemed satisfied with this.

'That's what I like to hear, the sound of silent terror. Now we do nothing now but wait. He'll be coming soon,' the demon's muddy brown eyes had a sickening hunger to them.

Poppy stood still. She was too afraid to ask who 'he' was.

'Why keep me here? Why keep me tied up?'

'You're part of the plan. We can't have you escaping on us,'

Poppy fell silent again, and felt angry. If only she had some way of getting out of her binds, then she might be able to get away. One thing Uncle Chris had always said was that you couldn't trust a demon. And he wasn't wrong. Poppy didn't trust Bill when he said he wasn't going to hurt her.

* * *

><p>'Eric?' Lily picked up on the first ring.<p>

'Meet me at the bottom of Chino's,' He hung up.

'What did he say?' Holly asked in a concerned voice seeing the look on her sister's face.

'To meet him at Chino's,' She looked around the street in which they were standing.

'That's about ten minutes away,' Holly confirmed, looking at the map. They were standing in one of the worst places in the city. Even though it was daylight, Holly still felt shivers up and down her spine just standing there. No girl in her right mind would walk there in the night. She could see random guys looking her up and down, and she wished that she had worn a different outfit to school today.

'Come on,' She said, grabbing Lily's wrist and dragging her along to Stark Avenue, which was the main road leading to China Town where both Eric lived and where Poppy was being held.

Lily felt so confused. She felt like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. No matter what way she put it; she had never been in a worse position. Her little sister had been kidnapped by, most probably, a bunch of ruthless demons, Holly was giving the orders and she was skipping school, which she had never done in her life. If it weren't for Holly taking charge, Lily would have gone to pieces ages ago.

'There's Eric!' Holly breathed in relief minutes later, when she and Lily spotted him standing outside of the garage, looking pensive and brooding.

When he spotted the sister's running towards him, he rushed to greet them.

'I know what's happened' He said, before Lily opened her mouth, 'Poppy contacted me about ten minutes ago,'

'She's OK?' Lily asked desperately.

'Yeah...they haven't killed her yet. Makes me think that she's not the one they want. She's afraid. She doesn't know where she is,'

'Lucky for her we do,' Holly piped up, ignoring his 'haven't killed her yet' comment. 'We scryed for her,'

'Where is she? We need to get her out right now,' Eric said, jumping into action.

'15th and 3rd Lark Street,'

Something dark settled on Eric's face.

'What?' Holly panicked, noticing.

Eric shook his head and didn't answer her.

'Come on,' He ordered, and broke into a run. Lily found it hard to keep up and she lagged behind. Holly was worried, Eric wasn't telling them something. Should she begin to panic? Eric stopped just outside an old abandoned warehouse. The whole street was deserted and it was filthy, covered in rubbish and puddles of grimy water lined the street.

The building in front of them was about four stories high, but the basement, under the grill beneath their feet posed the most worry. Lily could distinctly smell rancid burning coming through the vent.

'She's in there?' Lily asked. She gave the building an apprehensive look. What were the demons _doing _to her little sister down there?

'Should I summon her?' Holly asked, 'I should be close enough. Damn, I even managed to summon Lily from school. And you in my sleep, if you don't forget,'

But Eric was shaking his head.

'No,'

'Why not?' Lily and Holly both said in unison.

'They'll have put charms on her. Binding charms. Freezing her to the spot,'

'_Why?_'

Eric sighed.

'Look I know how their minds work OK? I used to be around guys like that for a significant part of my life. Just don't ask stupid unnecessary questions,'

'There's no need to bite our heads off,' Holly snapped.

Eric groaned.

'Do me a favour will you? And shut up?' He sank down onto the curb, and settled his elbows onto his knees, 'I need to think,'

Lily and Holly both looked at each other.

'Should I summon Uncle Chris?' Holly asked, even though she knew the answer.

'No,' Eric said at once, 'Do _not _summon your uncle,'

Holly snorted with a brief laugh.

'Oh and school hasn't called to tell him that all three of us are skipping? Yeah sure he's not going to find out about this,'

'Holly, be quiet,' Lily said wearily, aware that Eric's temper was rising.

Holly made an impatient noise.

'This is so stupid! Why are we taking orders from him? Lets just go in and get her,' Holly started towards one of the broken windows, but Eric grabbed her arm.

'Oh, no you don't,'

'And why not?' Holly burst out angrily, wrenching her arm away, 'my little sister could be dying in there! I'm sorry, but I'm not just going to sit here and let that happen!'

'You'll be playing into their hands. Their bounty would go up to _two _Charmed Ones if you go blundering in there without a clue.'

'What bounty? What's going on?'

Eric sighed deeply.

'I'm going in on my own. I want you two to stay out here,' He saw Holly's and Lily's mouths open to protest, 'No, listen. If I'm not out in ten minutes, with her, _then_ you can let your uncle know,'

He turned to haul himself through a broken window, but someone grabbed his arm.

'Be careful,' Lily said, pleading with her brown eyes.

He forced a smile, it stretched unnaturally across his taut face.

'Don't worry. We'll be fine. I know these guys, they're harmless,' He lied, and jumped through the window. Lily heard him land on the dusty floor with a heavy thud.

He knew what all this was about from the moment he heard the address of where Poppy was. It was the address of his old guardians. They were bounty hunters, demons who solely stole the children of witches in order for them to get something. He realised then that this was all about, it was about him. He was the bounty. This whole thing was simply a trap to capture him and kill him. Poppy was just the bait. Somehow, Biollopium had found out he was alive. For the first time in years he felt a prickle of fear. How did they know he was alive? How did they know he was related to Poppy? Did they know she was a Charmed One? It didn't bear thinking about.

Once Eric was sure he was deep enough in the warehouse away from Holly and Lily, he squared himself. Eric closed his eyes and tried to remember how to do something he hadn't done it a very long time, something that had given him nightmares since he was nine years old.

He took a deep breath and shimmered.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

'Ah ha!' Bill suddenly exclaimed, making Poppy jump.

'What?' Asked one of the demons that flanked him.

'Didn't you feel it?' When they both shook their enormous heads, Bill growled, 'the surge of power! He's coming!'

Poppy looked wildly around the room, expecting to see a whirl of smoke or dust or sand, out of which some horrific evil would come out.

'Won't be long now, then we can collect our bounty,' Bill rubbed his horny hands together, and moistened his fat lips.

She tried to close her eyes again, to contact Uncle Chris, but Bill was either too clever for her, or else he was just suspicious.

As soon as she closed her eyes, she felt a smack around her face.

'What was that for?' Her eyes stung with angry tears, 'You said you weren't going to hurt me!'

Biollopium just shrugged.

'I lied,' He said carelessly.

'Does that mean we get to eat her?' Asked the female of the two bodyguards.

Poppy's jaw dropped in alarm.

Biollopium rolled his eyes.

'No you fools! We wait until Pyrus is here, we take the demon, and dispose of the girl. We do not _eat _her...we are not seven hundred anymore. Our stomachs cannot take such fat,'

'I'm not fat!' Poppy protested, feeling that they were going way out of line here. She didn't want to be kidnapped, for one thing, but the thing that was pissing her off the most was how stupid and cliché their little plan was. Stealing a girl, using her to lure someone else there, threatening her, it was like something out of a _Film Noir_…only with demons and a real sense of fear.

'What have I told you?' Biollopium snarled, suddenly his eyes were full of a fire that made Poppy feel not so brave anymore, 'about talking?' Powerless to stop him, his hand collided hard with the side of her face and she was out before she fell against her binds and slumped to the floor.

Biollopium's glory was short lived. A fireball came hurtling from the doorway, killing one of Biollopium's men and making them vanish in a wisp of smoke.

'What the-' Biollopium's mouth fell slack on his face. Some of his conceited manner had disintegrated and was replaced by something that looked an awful lot like panic.

'Gerlic! Over there!' Biollopium commanded as he threw an energy ball himself towards the burnt hole in the wall where the fireball had seemingly come from.

'He's not there!' Gerlic called in alarm, his eyes searching the room wildly, afraid for his life.

Eric shimmered right next to Poppy, directly behind Biollopium.

'Boo,' He said his ear.

Biollopium let out an ear-splitting shriek and made to go forwards, but Eric hooked an arm around his neck.

'Long time no see Bill. Have you missed me?' Eric taunted, but his face told a different story. There was no playful fun etched there, just the raw purpose of duty and seriousness.

Biollopium let out a weak chuckle.

'Come on Pyrus, we're all friends here. Just come with us, and there's no need to hurt the witch,'

'Sorry, no deal. The witch and I both go free,'

The bounty hunter made a head movement to the stock still Gerlic, who snapped into action and fled from the room.

'Turn and face me,' Eric demanded, and let go of Biollopium.

Eric didn't think the idiot Gerlic was any immediate threat. As soon as he had Biollopium down, he would grab Poppy, take her to her sisters and track Gerlic down before he had any chance to tell anybody he was alive.

Biollopium turned slowly, with his hands over his head, to face Eric. He knew that Pyrus was much more powerful than he was but he hadn't used his powers in over ten years, at least not in proper combat. He had the advantage. He was astonished to see how human Pyrus looked, but then he wasn't really surprised. He had lived with mortal filth for a decade…it was about time he faced up to the fact that he still had demon in him.

'You've changed,' Biollopium told him with a disapproving smirk, 'Even when you were a young one you loved the taste of blood. Couldn't get enough of it. Now look at you. You look like a mortal.'

'Yeah, I still love the smell of blood.' Eric told him 'Innocents don't really do it for me these days, but I've grown terribly fond of demon blood. What does that make me? A traitor I supposel. I guess we all have to have a nickname. Bye bye Biollopium,' Eric said without remorse as he brought back his hand and sent a fireball straight into the demon in front of him. With a surprised shriek Biollopium fell to the floor in an unconscious heap but did not disappear.

This is such a mess, Eric thought as he turned to Poppy. I shouldn't have let Gerlic get away; he'd obviously gone for reinforcements from upstairs. He cursed his foolishness, knowing that he had about 30 seconds to get out of there.

He shook Poppy gently, feeling a warm relief spread through him as he saw that she was still alive, even though her head was covered with blood.

'Poppy?' He whispered as he untied the ropes that held her against the pole.

She opened her confused brown eyes and let out a moan.

'Shh,' Eric soothed, touching her cheek. 'It's OK,'

'Butthe demon,' She stammered, getting panicked and struggled to her feet.

Eric put out an arm to steady her, and then leant forward.

'Listen to me, you need to make contact with Holly and ask her to summon you,'

'Er,' Poppy began uncertainly, surely he meant with Uncle Chris?

'She's right outside. As soon as you make contact with her, tell her she needs to summon you _now._'

'But what about you?' Poppy demanded.

'Forget about me,' Eric said forcefully, 'Just do as I say,'

She felt so exhausted; she thought that any power she used might take too much out of the little energy she had.

'Do it now,' Eric urged.

Biollopium was beginning to make a stir.

Poppy let out a fearful gasp, as she saw the demon open his eyes.

Eric flung Poppy down onto the floor again, a little harder than he meant to, 'I'll hold him off. _Do it now_!'

After casting a fearful look at the upright Biollopium, and the reappearance of Gerlic in the doorway, Poppy closed her eyes, and submerged herself deep into the unconscious. Under all this pressure, she was sure that it wasn't going to work. But it did. She found Holly's thoughts in the swelling mass around her almost immediately.

'Holly!' Poppy shouted in desperation.

'POPPY! Oh my God! Are you OK?'

'You have to summon me. Eric, he's fighting with the demons, but he can't hold them off, you have to summon me right now!'

The connection faded, and Poppy opened her eyes once more to the terrifying scene in front of her. Fireballs, energy balls and athames were flying everywhere, and Biollopium and Eric were deep in combat, whereas Gerlic was nowhere to be seen. Poppy suspected that Eric had killed her, as there was a huge black smouldering heap of ashes on the floor. She stood there in shock observing the destruction in front of her eyes. She had never seen Eric look so angry and...inhumane. There was something evil, something she had never even seen before, on his face. It was a marking, a circle with a lightening bolt through it on his forehead. But Poppy knew he was on her side. She didn't feel in danger when Eric was there, but still she felt so frightened, that she hoped to dear God her contact with Holly had gone through.

'Poppy!' screamed a voice. Poppy looked around wildly... that was Lily's voice!

She could hear the sound of running footsteps, but she still couldn't see her sister anywhere. She was searching for her and Poppy felt a surge of terror. If Lily came down, Biollopium would surely kill her.

A fireball shot into the wall directly above Poppy, and she felt a few embers land on the top of her head.

Poppy's breath got caught in her throat.

'POPPY!' Lily's desperate voice grew louder, and Poppy heard Eric swear. She knew that he thought if she came up he would wreck everything. Eric was struggling to contain Biollopium as it was.

A flash of blue light swept through the room, and Poppy was instantly blinded.

'FUCK!' Eric screamed, and she heard him kick something.

Poppy searched around madly for the wall behind her...but she felt nothing but air under her fingertips.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her through the emptiness and brought her to her feet, and pressed a knife into her neck.

The room came back into focus, and Poppy didn't recognise the voice belonging to the arm that restrained her.

'Nobody move,'

The room span in front of Poppy's eyes. A fireball ready in Eric's hand, to throw deep into the captor's head no doubt, extinguished...his face ashen and panicked. For the first time in Poppy's memory, he was showing the first human signs of fear. She saw Biollopium gaze at her captor in wonder, a strange reverence coming across his horrific features.

'Say goodbye to the witch Pyrus,' The cold voice spoke with venom. A deadly whisper chilling the air in Poppy's lungs.

She heard Lily shout her name again, without a clue of what was happening. Poppy closed her eyes, a tear escaping and trailing down her cheek.

This is where I die, she thought. I'm never going to see Brice again. Such pain filled her heart, pain that she never thought possible associated with Brice's name.

The moment the blade of an athame pressed into Poppy's skin, she felt something light, warm and a sound deafening her ears to the world around her rose up inside of Poppy's body. Poppy felt the world immerse in a shimmery white light. She was floating. Floating far above Eric's stunned face, the ashes of several demons and she finally saw the face of her captor, the face that she doubted she would ever forget.

* * *

><p>Poppy landed in a gentle floating movement at Holly's feet, who was staring at her with wide eyes, hardly believing her power had worked, and grateful that Poppy had landed so gracefully.<p>

'Oh my God,' Holly cried, and wrapped her arms around her little sister, squeezing her tight.

Poppy began to cry silently and melted into Holly's arms. She was so happy that she felt like her insides were swelling. Holly, Lily and even Eric had all come and rescued her. Eric had even risked his life, by embracing his true nature again.

There were footsteps again, Holly and Poppy spun around just in time to see Lily leap in on their hug.

After they broke apart, Lily bent down to untie Poppy's restraints on her hands and feet.

'Who died?' Poppy joked wearily.

'Don't even joke about that,' Lily hit her on the arm.

'Come on, let's get out of here,' Holly said, placing a supportive arm under Poppy's armpit, balancing her unsteady weight.

Lily however, wouldn't move.

'We have to go. Eric will understand, he told me to go,' Poppy said.

'I'm not leaving without him!' Lily said fiercely. Holly grabbed her arm, pulling her back from the warehouse...the chaos.

'Lily,' Holly said in a calm voice, 'we have to get out of here. Eric can look after himself,'

To Holly's utter astonishment, Lily started to cry.

'We can't leave, we have to help him! Listen,' She made Holly listen in agony to the sounds of breaking glass, explosions, cries of pain and raised voices.

'Come on Lily,' Holly urged, _'We_ can't stay here,'

'You're saying I've got my priorities wrong? As if I have to chose between us and him? I am NOT leaving without Eric. He's family. We have to go back and help,'

'And what help we'd do poking the demons in the eye with our nails! You know my molecular combustion power is withheld from me until I'm 18!' Holly wished her sister would see sense.

'You-' She shoved Holly into the wall. Lily had never been so angry in her life. Poppy was safe, so now it was Eric's turn to be a main priority. No, not in Holly's mind. Eric could be dying down there and Holly seemed perfectly happy to sitting tight and watch it happen.

'Don't push me!' Holly screeched, 'You're going to attract the demons right up here!'

'Oh!' Lily laughed, wiping her face of tears furiously, 'I'm stupid now am I?'

'Look,' Holly said wearily, 'Can we please just get Poppy home and cleaned up? Look at her...she's exhausted,'

Lily didn't look at her though.

'But Eric...' She murmured.

Holly actually let out a small scream in frustration.

'LILY! Get a grip! Your sister or your cousin?'

Lily looked gobsmacked.

'How can you even ask that? It's like you don't even care about him at all,'

'Whatever way you look at it you're still wasting time-'

'UNCLE CHRIS!' Poppy called through her tears suddenly, covering her ears to shut out her sister's bickering.

It took a few seconds before Chris orbed in. He stood surveying the three girls with a mixture of surprise and disbelief.

'What's happened?' Chris asked immediately, noticing the blood all over Poppy.

Holly and Lily were silent, but both looked daggers at Poppy. How _could _she summon their uncle?

* * *

><p><em>What do you think about it all? Your comments are really helpful xx<em>


	16. Chapter 16

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

After he had forced the story out of them, Chris contacted his aunt at once. He then gathered Holly, Lily and Poppy in his arms and orbed them home.

He couldn't remember the last time he had felt so angry. Chris knew that exactly what demons were and what they were capable of and could not believe his nieces had got mixed up in it.

It was a miracle that Poppy had been found. Demons had a way of shielding witches presences to their Whitelighters, which made their recovery almost impossible. It was pure luck that Holly and Lily found her by scrying, unless Poppy was at that same moment trying to make contact herself. That was the only way a location could have been identified with the crystal. Chris knew now the same clan of bounty hunters Kim, Greg, Isobel, Phoebe and Coop had spent years of their life protecting Eric against were once again at large. Eric couldn't remember of course, but back then he looked so much like a demon that it had been an intensely difficult process to immerse him in the human lives they tried to lead. He was not close to Eric, and felt no love towards him in the way that he felt towards his aunt and uncle or nieces, but knowing that he was in there, that he risked his life for the sake of saving Poppy, made something inside him change. The moment the girls were under the house's protection, he would go straight back and try and help Eric.

When appeared in the hallway of the manor, Chris took Poppy upstairs to her room and laid her down on her bed. She rolled over with a soft moan, still crying.

He felt a wave of sympathy for her but he had no time to console her now.

'Shh,' Chris murmured, bringing the duvet around her and tucking it under her arms.

'Is Eric going to be OK?' Poppy asked, her huge brown eyes worried and brimming with tears.

Chris bit his lip. If Eric had fully transformed, there would be no way back. They would have another demon on their vanquishing list and family or not he would have to die.

'I don't know,' He told her truthfully.

Chris couldn't stand to punish her, which he would have to for her stupid foolhardy behaviour at some stage, when she looked so weak and sad.

He left the room

'What are we going to do?' Holly said the instant he came down the stairs.

'_You_ do nothing,' He told her, when he entered the living room, where Lily and Holly were sitting anxiously on the couch waiting to be given instructions, 'I'm going back to get your cousin,'

There was no mistaking the anger in his voice.

'Uncle Chris-'Holly began, but he cut right across her.

'-I don't want to hear it Holly,' Chris said, eyes on fire with fury, 'You disobeyed my rules, you skipped school, you might have even turned Eric,'

'_Turned_ him?' Lily repeated, horrified.

Chris nodded grimly.

'Phoebe might have arrived in time to destroy Biollopium's nest and save him. Biollopium might have called someone higher up collect Eric, I can't be sure. Most likely it'll need the power of three...the old one, to prevent the ritual that would turn him completelyl. In the meantime _you_ three aren't going out of this house in the foreseeable future,'

Lily agreed this was fair. She didn't want to go out for a long, _long _time.

Holly felt furious again. Chris was treating them like little children. Even though she did feel _some _shame of what had happened, i.e. not telling him and Great Aunt Phoebe about it, she thought that they handled it pretty well. Damn it, they even got Poppy back! And it wasn't her fault that she couldn't contact him or Phoebe!

'I have to go,' Chris said, getting up off the arm of the sofa where he was sitting, 'Phoebe is calling me,'

'Chris-'

'Stay where you are,' He commanded, giving the sisters a stern look each, and then he vanished in a whirl of blue/white light.

Holly let out a lungful of air.

'It could've been worse,'

Lily glared at her.

'_Could have been worse? _Did you not see how disappointed he was?'

'Yeah,' Holly shrugged.

'You may be used to it,' Lily said, 'But it's a first for me,'

Lily stared out of the window. It had started to rain.

'What are we going to do? When do you think they'll be back?' Holly asked.

Lily didn't know. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. It had been too close. She had nearly lost two people she loved tonight. _Again. _

She'd lost her mother and her father in the same day. She didn't know whether she could stand it if Poppy or Eric died too.

Holly detected that Lily wasn't exactly feeling her best, so she took action.

'Come on,' She said, 'Let's go up and sit with Poppy for a while,'

Lily got to her feet and swayed on the spot. She experienced a surge of pain through her head and she cried out, her vision beginning to turn foggy. Holly looked at her in alarm as Lily lost her balance and then fell to the floor, her head narrowly missing the corner of the coffee table.

'LILY!' Holly swooped down next to her sister and shook her. Her sister began to twitch on the floor and no matter how hard she tried, Lily wouldn't snap out of it.

'Oh no,' Holly gasped as she saw Lily's eyes roll, and recoiled away from her in panic.

But Lily couldn't hear her. She was too absorbed in a scene from the past that was unfolding right before her eyes. 

_Lily was aware that she was immobilised. The images in front of her eyes seemed to be imposing down on her, but they were cloudy and it took all of Lily's energy to put them into order. With a huge jolt she realised she could see her mother standing on what looked like the staircase of their old house, but when her mother's screaming voice came into her head, Lily's heart fell dramatically. _

'_WYATT!' Lily's mother, Ivy Marston, screamed, 'NOOOO!' _

_Her mother looked overcome with such intense pain that she diminished to the floor. Holly was there too, and she was standing aghast and staring at the scene beneath them. Lily saw pools of blood and flesh and felt sick. They had clearly just seen her father blow up. _

'_Ivy!' A new voice rang in Lily's head. A moment later, Uncle Chris appeared in a swirl of light next to her mother. He cast his fierce green eyes upon what looked like human remains on the floor and had to duck as a ball of electric blue fire was thrown close to his head. _

'_Quick,' He took hold of her mother's and Holly's arms, but then came the sound of a huge burst of flame, the power of it knocking him, her mother and her sister off their feet. A fireball came soaring through the room and hit Chris on his back. He fell through the banister and landed in an awkward position amongst her Dad's blood on the floor, unconscious. _

'_Uncle Chris!' Holly made a movement towards him, but her mother gripped her tightly to her chest. _

'_No Holly,' Ivy sobbed, and swiftly moved in front of her. _

_Several hooded figures had begun to shimmer into the room. Knowing exactly what was about to happen, Lily tried to yell out, but no sound entered the scene. Her mother's face transformed into a mask of fury and desperation and she lifted what looked like the remains of their grandfather clock below her and directed it at the nearest line of tall hooded figures. _

'_You're wasting your efforts,' a cold masculine voice rang through the hall. The figures moved apart and a tall, unhooded figure came forward through the open doorway. His face was heavily pockmarked and deathly white with large black eyes. Lily knew, instinctively, that this was the demon that killed her mother. His name was Aquiminous, a demon that had taken Eric days to track down and kill. _

_Ivy telekinetically tried to deter him, but he flicked the hurtling bits of mahogany away from him with a casual wave of his hand. _

'_Give the girl to me and we might spare your life,' He declared spreading his arms wide as if to embrace her._

_Her mother had summoned a knife into her hand and skilfully threw it at him, but the demon had swung his cloak, disappeared and appeared at Ivy's side in an instant. She summoned the knife back but he was prepared._

'_No!' She shouted, as he bent her wrist behind her back, knocking the knife from her grasp, 'No! You can't have her!' She kicked the demon away from her and launched herself over Holly, but the hooded figure had lowered his hand and covered her mother's mouth. _

_Smoke appeared around Ivy __and she was lifted off the stairs. Her sister, Holly, watched in horror as their mother struggled, arms waving about trying to conjure items to attack the demon with. _

'_NO!' Holly screamed, jumping to her feet and launching herself upon the hooded demon, 'Stop it! Stop it!'_

_The demon just stared at her with fathomless black eyes, defiant and careless. The sight of his inhuman visage sent Holly recoiling, and her sister backed up against the wall in horror. _

_Ivy took advantage of her brief moment of freedom and raised the knife, ready to strike, but he was too quick for her. The demon clasped his hand tighter around Ivy's mouth and her eyes began to droop, the life draining from her. _

'_Get the hell away from them!' A recognisable voice cried with rage. Chris had struggled to his feet and hit some of the observing demons with several bottles of potions, which Lily knew he always kept stored in his jacket pocket. The demons yelled as they burst into smoke and vanished, the potion successfully vanquishing them. _

_The unhooded demon snarled and with a new vigour, focussed all of his attentions to the curse he was performing. More than anything Lily wished that she wasn't seeing this, as Chris orbed near to Holly and Ivy, but it was too late. Aquiminous dropped her mother onto the floor, her last breath gone from her body. There was no chance to get to her. Her mother dead, the demon began to advance on Holly and Chris. He took hold of Holly's arm and he started to pull her away. _

'_We can't! What about…?' She yelled, pushing him away. It didn't seem Holly had realised it was too late to save their mother. Her voice chilled Lily to the bone; Holly obviously thought her mother was just simply unconscious. _

'_There's nothing we can do…' Chris muttered tonelessly, pulling her closer to him and shielding her against the numerous energy balls that were being thrown at them. There were tears in his eyes. _

'_Stop them!' The demon directed his army, who all started towards Holly and Chris at the command. Now Chris's words sunk into Holly and she began to wail into his shirt, her howls of anguish still resounding in her ears as the images faded and she was brought back to the present day. _

Lily's eyes flew open and she gasped for air, tears forming before her eyes, blurring her vision.

'_Lily_!'

She looked around to find herself lying on the floor of the living room; Holly crouched down next to her.

As she comprehended what she had just witnessed, especially the parts concerning this same sister, her tears started to fall thick and fast down her cheeks.

'Oh Lil,' Holly cried, looking white, 'What happened?'

'I think…' Lily said coarsely, her throat constricting, 'I think…my powers are working,'

'You had a premonition?' Holly could not have been more surprised.

'No,' Lily croaked, wiping her eyes, 'I saw something that had already happened,'

'You what?'

Her sister hadn't stopped shaking. Would all her visions make her act like this? Holly had never seen her sister reduced to a state like this, not even when she had been told about their parents' deaths.

'Lily…tell me what happened…' Holly held her sisters hands firmly in hers, comforting her.

It took a while for Lily to find the words. When she finally did speak, her voice was shaking so much Holly could hardly understand her.

'I saw our old house. Mom was yelling and then Uncle Chris orbed into the room-'

'You saw the night Mom and Dad died?' Holly's hands flew to her mouth.

Lily nodded and hid her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

'It was so…so…horrible. The demons were terrifying. How…on earth could….Chris keep so cool and…'

'I have dreams about it sometimes,' Holly said hollowly, pulling Lily's head close to her chest. .

'That _thing _just put his hand over Mom's mouth and then she was gone,' Lily said uneasily, 'What a horrible way to die,'

'But why did you see it? GOD! I hate having these powers, they make absolutely no sense! They're useless!'

'No they're not,' Lily said, pulling away from Holly and looking at her, 'you saved Poppy's life today. If you hadn't summoned her who knows what state she would've been in when Eric could have gotten her out,'

Lily shuddered. Imagine if the demons hadn't wanted Eric. Imagine that they were after her sister and her powers…she could have died today, just like her parents. Although she had witnessed the horrific death of their mother, their father's death had been just as bad. There was no body to reclaim afterwards.

'Are you OK?' Holly asked.

Lily nodded, trying to force herself to remember that what she saw happened in the past. But it was hard...it felt so real, so tangible it seemed as if it had happened minutes ago.

'Why do you think your powers have suddenly been activated?' Holly asked.

Lily shrugged.

'We'll ask Aunt Phoebe when they all come home-'

'For a moment there I had no idea where I was,' Lily interrupted, 'Now I'm certain I never want to see an Aquiminous for as long as I live-' She broke off as Holly let out a yell.

Lily span around and saw a swirl of blue lights erupting in the centre of the room, and she too jumped up, thinking it was another demon attack. A moment later Phoebe, Coop and Chris were standing there, an almost unrecognisable Eric held in Chris's and Coop's arms.

Holly and Lily let out a huge sigh of relief, wiping their tears from their faces before any of them would notice they had been crying.

Their uncles set Eric down onto the couch.

He was a complete mess, his hair covered with sweat and blood and his clothes all torn and bloody. The lightening bolt on his forehead, the symbol for his demonic power, had vanished.

Phoebe, Coop and Chris all stood around him, faces lined with intense relief and exhaustion.

'He's all right?' Lily asked immediately.

Phoebe went over and pulled the two sisters into a hug.

'Yes, he's fine,' She told them, smiling, 'Am I glad to see you in one piece?'

'D'you know what happened?' Lily asked urgently.

'By the time we got there he was unconscious. It seems he killed them all himself, but had knocked himself out in the effort,'

'Always one for a dramatic exit, our Eric,' Coop said fondly.

'I'm just so glad that Poppy's OK,' Phoebe said, shaking her head, looking scandalised at the thought of her great niece being held in the hands of demons.

'You know, that was some pretty quick thinking bravery on your part, Holly,' Coop told her, 'Summoning Poppy at the right moment,'

Lily smiled, her pulse rate, which had been thumping ever since her vision, returning back to normal. The retrocognition had made her feel so unguarded, vulnerable, the presence of those she loved around her made her feel safe once more.

'We need to discuss something,' Chris said, taking a seat in an armchair, looking around at them all seriously.

'Eric isn't going to be safe now that the underworld may know he's alive. They probably know where he lives, which would means that they're watching his apartment. I think Eric should move in with us so he has the protection of the house. We're stronger when we're together. This way, someone will always be home to look after you three girls while we try and figure out how the hell they figured out he was alive and what's going to happen next.'

Everyone was silent. Phoebe and Coop looked at each other, their worst fears confirmed and sinking in.

'He should move in with us,' Phoebe agreed.

'Eric's not going to like it. He likes his independence. He couldn't wait to move out when he was seventeen…he's not exactly going to want to shack up with the six of us,' Coop frowned.

'Er sorry,' Holly protested, folding her arms across her chest, 'There's absolutely no way I am going to agree to this. A demon, in our house?'

'This is about Eric's safety,' Coop said, 'I know it's not ideal, but I don't know if the underworld is aware of Eric's survival, but we can't risk it. We have enough room,'

'No we don't!' Holly protested, 'the only spare room is the attic...and I'm not letting him stay in there with our legacy...he'd destroy the book!'

'He saved Poppy's life and put himself in danger,' Lily reminded her.

'Fine,' Holly bit out, 'But I'm not happy with it,'

Phoebe took a seat on the edge of the couch, looking at Eric. Nobody could tell what she was thinking.

She turned to her sisters, her face dark with memory.

'We're never going to escape them are we?'

Her husband put his arms around her.

'No honey, we're not. But you've known that since the first time you were attacked.'

'Jeremy seems like nothing compared to this.' Phoebe smiled weakly.

'So...it's settled then?' Chris asked, looking at everyone.

'Isn't anyone going to ask _me _if I agree to this?' Everyone turned around to look at Eric, who was sitting up and looking very pissed.

Holly inched Poppy's bedroom door open and peeked through the door. Poppy was still in bed, fast asleep.

'We should go,' Lily said nervously, not wanting to disturb her.

'No,' Holly insisted, 'I want to sit with her,'

'Hol-'

Without listening to Lily, Holly went in and sat next to Poppy.

Awakened by the sudden pressure on the bed next to her, Poppy opened her eyes.

'How long have I been asleep?' She asked, sitting up.

'About four hours,' Lily said from the doorway, still frowning at Holly.

'Where's Eric?' Poppy shot up from her bed, but Holly pushed her gently back against her pillows again, 'Did he manage to get out?'

'He's fine,' She soothed, 'Everything's fine. In fact, after everything, all that's happened is that we're gaining a new housemate,'

'Eric's moving in with us?' Poppy asked in surprise.

'Yeah,' Holly said with no enthusiasm at all, 'Great,'

'It's to protect him,' Lily sighed, 'God, stop being so selfish. He helped us out today. It'd be good to have him around,'

'I know,' Poppy smiled, 'He's my new hero,'

'That makes two of you,' Holly rolled her eyes.

Lily laughed and threw one of Poppy's stuffed animals at Holly.

As if knowing that the girls were all talking about him, Eric stuck his head around the door.

'Why hello,' He grinned wolfishly.

'Hey,' Poppy smiled embarrassedly.

'Question; didn't you get taught it's wrong to talk to strangers? I thought waltzing up to a strange SUV would come under that rule?'

'Oh, ha ha,' Poppy scowled.

'Looks like I'm going to have to give you a few pointers on self preservation aren't I?' He laughed, seeing the look on Poppy's face, 'Can't tell you how happy I am to see you in one piece, though' He winked, 'How are you?'

'Happier now that I know you're going to be moving in with us!' She beamed.

Eric laughed.

'Yeah,' He said, 'well, it's definitely going to be a bit of a squeeze. D'you think I can I bunk with you?'

'No,' She said, making a face, 'I heard you sleep naked,'

Eric spun around to face Holly.

'You _told _her?' He asked incredulously.

'I was under the influence!' Holly protested, 'Poppy cast that truth spell!'

Eric shook his head in disbelief.

'What are we going to do with you three?'

'Three?' Lily asked, raising an eyebrow, 'What did I do?'

'You went into the warehouse when I strictly told you not to,' Eric grinned, 'that was pretty stupid,'

'I was worried about you,' She admitted, 'I didn't want to stand around and do nothing,'

'Ain't that the truth,' Holly smirked, 'She's been in her bedroom all night seeing if there's enough room to fit another bed in there so that she could keep her watchful eye on you at all times,'

Eric let out a bark of laughter and Lily went scarlet, contrasting horribly with her pale skin.


	17. Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The next day, Chris called the school and bent the truth a little about how the sisters skipped afternoon lessons the day before. He told the Principal that the girls had heard that family member was rushed into hospital, and that they hadn't had time to tell anyone where they were going because they were so worried about their cousin's condition.

Principal Wentz, although not very happy that three of his students had skipped school, lapped up the story and said that the girls had to be back in school on Thursday, with all the school work they missed completed.

Holly's friends (minus Owen, who didn't seem to notice Holly was gone at all) called her demanding to know where she got to that afternoon, thinking that she had gone to the mall to check out the sales at Urban Outfitters, and tell her that she was '_so bad_'. Every time Holly hung up the phone it made her more determined to get some decent friends.

Brice, however, didn't believe the bull at all. Although resentful, he kept his promise to Holly and didn't tell anyone about what he'd seen, expecting an explanation later. But when Poppy didn't turn up at school the next day, something in him snapped. He couldn't understand why he had kept quiet and why no one else seemed worried that all the Marston sisters weren't in school. Straight after school, he went over to Poppy's house, determined to find the truth.

When Poppy opened the door, she was confronted with a very enraged Brice.

'So you're OK then?' He asked angrily.

'Brice!' She exclaimed, severely taken aback by the ferocity in his voice.

'What happened yesterday?' He demanded, pushing past her and going into the hallway.

Poppy staggered, speechless. She didn't expect the third degree from Brice. But then she remembered that he was there when she was kidnapped and that he must have seen everything.

Poppy coloured and felt awful. She couldn't tell him the truth. Her family told her that anyone who knew the family secret would be in danger. Poppy couldn't put Brice in that position now that she knew exactly what demons were capable of, she just couldn't.

Poppy indicated with her hand for him to follow her into the kitchen.

'So...are you _going _to tell me or do I have to guess?'

'What did you see?' Poppy asked him, trying to keep her tone casual.

Brice just stared at her like she was insane...which he was beginning to think she was.

'Erm...you lost your head and went up to this huge black truck, then get knocked _over_ the head, and taken away...' then his voice changed, 'are you trying to say I saw something different?' He added incredulously.

Poppy shifted her feet anxiously.

'Er no...'

'What happened to you?' Brice asked, his black eyes flashing.

'I can't tell you,'

'Why not?'

'I just can't,'

'So you're saying that I didn't see you get knocked out and taken away? Do you even _know _what lunatic's are out there? Do you even know how much people could hurt you?'

'Brice-'

'Fine...then why did both your sisters act like it was some weird thing when I told them? And keep it a secret?' Brice questioned, determined to get a decent answer once and for all.

'I...don't know, maybe you should ask them?' Poppy said desperately, feeling terrible at the look of fierce hurt on Brice's face.

'I'M ASKING YOU!'

When Poppy didn't say anything Brice actually yelled in frustration. In a very Cal like manner, he banged down his fist on the counter and knocked over a vase of flowers.

Poppy cried out and instinctively held out her hands.

It happened in an instant. The moment before the flowers were falling, water flowing all over the kitchen floor and a second later, the flowers, some plain roses from the garden, and the blue glass vase that held them, inches away from the floor, had frozen. Poppy shrieked and jumped back. This must be her power to freeze. But the surprises didn't stop there.

'What the – ' Brice turned to Poppy, face agog as he registered what he had seen.

Poppy stared at him. Why was he moving?

'You…didn't…freeze' she stammered, her voice dropping to a whisper.

'Of course not,' Brice said, equally stunned.

'But…why not?' She asked stupidly.

'Why do you think?' He asked her, eyes wide.

'Hang on-'

'You can't be-'

'That's not possible, you're a-'

'You're a witchtoo?'

They both stared at each other for several moments, the information too much to process. Neither knew what to say to each other. Poppy felt as if her head were about to explode.

'You ought to sort them out,' Brice advised, nodding to the flowers that were still frozen in mid-air, 'before they un-freeze,'

'But_ how_…_when_? She breathed.

Poppy couldn't contain herself any longer. She had known Brice her whole life practically and she hadn't even considered there being another side to him. She then realised how he must have felt when she had got taken away, knowing that he probably knew it was demons but didn't want to tell anyone because he had his own secret to protect. That was probably why he had rushed over as soon as he could, he had to be sure that she was OK and that it wasn't demons or the supernatural after her.

'I got my powers when my grandfather came down a few weeks ago,' Brice said, helping her grab the vase and mop up the water mid-air with a kitchen towel, 'But we've all known our whole lives. My brother's are witches too,'

'You've known your whole lives?' Before Poppy knew what was happening, she had begun to cry. This was so unfair! 'We had no idea! We only found out when my Mom and Dad died,'

'Poppy!' Brice cried in alarm as she began to cry harder.

'I can't take it any more!' Poppy wept, 'I can't believe it! This whole time I've been thinking we're the only ones…'

Brice swooped down next to her. He had got over the shock and was beginning to come round to the idea that his best friend shared his heritage. Stranger things had happened. Not that he could think of any at the moment.

He laid a hand on her shoulder.

'If you think about it, it's pretty cool. The only other witches I know about were the Halliwell sisters, the famous Charmed Ones. My grandfather talks about them all the time, he used to tell me stories about them so that they were almost mythical to me. I had no idea that _you –_'

'Brice…my grandmother Piper, my Great Aunt Phoebe and Paige…they were the Charmed Ones,' Poppy wiped her tears away furiously.

'_No way_!' Brice was astonished. OK, this was getting crazy now. 'That's so cool!'

Brice helped her up off the floor and the both stood staring at each other.

'God!' Brice realised, 'Of course they were, Phoebe _Halliwell. _If I'd have bothered to register it I'd have known!' There were other things he was beginning to place together as well. 'Your parents,' he continued, horrific realisation drawing on his face, 'They were murdered by demons weren't they?'

Poppy nodded and Brice put an arm around her.

'Aquiminous,'

'Shit,' Brice obviously knew about that type of demon, 'Poor Holly,'

'The moment they died,' Poppy swallowed, 'Our powers were unleashed…we…er…'

'You're the new Charmed Ones aren't you? You and Lily and Holly?' Brice asked with trepidation.

Poppy nodded. Brice didn't say anything for a while, trying to process that when Poppy was eighteen, she was part of one trio of the most powerful witches in the world.

'So you all have more than one power? Because of your dad and grandfather?' He asked, 'I'm totally jealous, we only have one,'

Poppy smiled.

'Holly can summon and blow stuff up when she's 18. Lily can have these creepy visions but we don't know what her other power is. I've only just got my power to stop time…I've never frozen anything before. My grandmother could do that! I'm so happy I have one of her powers,'

'What else can you do?' Brice asked, 'Turn stuff to gold?' He was getting over-enthusiastic now.

'Ha, no!' A mischievous grin suddenly came across her face. 'God, there are so many times I wanted to do this,'

Brice raised an eyebrow.

'Do what?' He asked warily.

'This,' She said into his mind.

He jumped up, eyes wide and grinning.

'Your lips didn't move!'

'I can telepathically communicate,' She thought to him.

'Oh my God,' Brice pulled a face, 'So that's what you do when you day-dream? You can read my thoughts?'

'No,' Poppy said, then smirked, 'Not yet at least. How about you?'

Brice looked at the tap, moved his hand and suddenly the tap went on and water came gushing out. He waved his hand again and the water did impressive arc's across the sink, then he put his hand down and the water stopped.

He turned to Poppy, ready for her to rave about how cool his power was, but found that she was looking sad again.

'My Mom had that power,' She explained.

'_Oh_,' He decided to change the subject, 'It's not as bad as Cal's, he can become invisible,'

'Eurgh! No!' Poppy groaned, 'No girl in the locker room is safe!'

'That's what Mom and Dad thought, they bound his powers until he's 21,'

'Crikey! No wonder why he's been looking so peeved lately,'

'Nah, he's known since he came of age last year,' Brice told her, 'he's had some time to get used to it. Oh, get this…Freddy can teleport,'

'So can we,' Poppy beamed, 'Our grandfather was a whitelighter…so, y'know, we should be able to orb at some point. Not that we get given our powers at a sensible time or whatever,'

'Oh yeah, I forgot! The legendary Leo Wyatt. Does that mean you can heal as well?'

'Theoretically, but I think only one of us will get that power. We're only ¼ whitelighter, it'll probably be selfless Lily I guess. Yeah, that makes sense, her only power is the one of premonition and retrocognition, so her other power would be healing. She should get that when she's 18 then…'

'This is so wild,' Brice let out a whistle, 'We totally have to go out and kick demon ass when we're 18,'

'Hmm…well, I'm staying away from demons for a while,' She looked down at her hands, 'You were right to be cautious of the SUV. Demons_ were_ in there,'

'Are you kidding me?' Brice was angry again, 'God you're so stupid! You should know by now anything strange has got evil behind it. After what happened to your parents –'

'All right Brice,' Poppy shot back, 'I've already had the third degree from my uncle. They didn't want me anyway. It was a trap to lure my cousin out of hiding. He's an ex-demon,' She explained to Brice's confused look, 'That doesn't mean he's evil or anything, at least not now. It's a whole big story.'

There was silence.

Poppy couldn't believe that Brice of all people was going through the same things she was. It was…amazing…fantastic. Whenever she felt alone, she realised she never truly could be because Brice would always be going through the same things. Brice was always there to help her…and now…there were no more secrets between them.

'No more secrets,' Brice was the one who seemed to read her mind, beaming with visible relief, 'I've wanted to tell you for years. I knew you would always understand, but Huten always told me not to tell anyone,'

'That's all I've been hearing for months too,'

'We _should_ keep it a secret,' Brice's hand was suddenly gripping her arm, a wicked grin on his face, 'Although I'd _love _to tell Freddy you're a Charmed One…We should have some fun just the two of us…we have to promise we won't tell anyone we know we're both magical,'

'OK,' Poppy agreed, 'But I doubt it's going to stay quiet long…you know how bad I am with secrets!'

As the scale of what had just happened hit them, they both burst out laughing and let out shrieks of excitement, jumping around and hugging each other fiercely. It was the sort of moment that Poppy and Brice knew they would treasure for life. Who cares if you were different when you had your family _and_ best friend to share it with?

* * *

><p><em>Phew. Hopefully that helps anyone who was wondering why Brice 'knew' more about what was happening to Poppy. Please review, your opinions and comments are valued and appreciated x<em>


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

'Well, it comes down to this,' Myra Reid continued, as if she wasn't aware her best friend wasn't listening to her, 'Now that you've blown him off maybe he'll _finally _realise I'm the girl for him...'

She looked at herself in the long mirror above the sinks in the ground floor girl's bathroom and tucked her brown curly hair behind her ears.

'Hmm...' She said, leaning closer to the mirror, 'Maybe I should wear some gloss...do you think it would bring out my face a bit more? Lily?'

She turned around and looked at her best friend. It was fifth period and Lily Marston had been in the bathroom with her for the last half hour waiting patiently for Myra to finish her monologue of 'how-long-it-would-take-for-her-and-Scott-Lopez-to-finally-get-together'. It was a free period because the gym teacher was off sick and no one had been found in time to cover the lesson.

'Sorry, what?' Lily looked up. She had been inspecting the state of her fingernails.

Myra sighed.

'What is up with you?' She asked grumpily, getting out her makeup bag, 'you're so…absent lately. It's like you hardly ever listen to what I have to say anymore…'

I would listen, Lily thought, if you told me something new and interesting. I've been hearing your hook up with Scott strategy for the last month.

'I have been listening,' Lily said diplomatically, looking up at her with clear, honest brown eyes, 'But you can't help but notice how all your plans are coming to nothing and that you're repeating everything.'

Lily couldn't believe that after she had told Myra the truth about how Scott behaved the night of their one and only date, she was still interested in getting with him. _And _after witnessing how desperate and ultimately nasty Lily's rejection made him. It must be love.

Myra frowned sadly.

'I know,' She said miserably, 'and this is _me _we're talking about! I never let anything pass me by. I'm almost ruthless. And look at me, I'm pathetic,' Myra gave her curly brown hair a ironic flick, 'I'm losing all my kick-ass personality for a worthless _boy_,'

Lily laughed. Myra Reid was _the _ruthless school newspaper editor and had recently been employed as a broadcaster for the school radio station. Her sharp tongue and strong personality kept her fresh in school, and Myra was renowned as the person to go to for problems. Myra never had problems herself. The whole 'being-in-love-with-one-of-their-closest-friends' was new for her. Lily had to admit that she liked it a bit, even if Myra was going ga-ga over a bit of a loser.

Lily put an arm around her.

'You're fine, seriously,' She smiled, 'but you have to put all these plans into action…you can't keep going on about them to me while Scott sits idly waiting for another girl,'

Myra sucked in some air.

'You don't think there's someone else?' Myra asked sharply, eyes wide.

'No!' Lily fought the urge to laugh, 'God Myra, you definitely need to tell him and get out of this obsesso mode!'

'I'm not the only one who's changed,' Myra said, 'you hardly ever come out anymore. It's like you don't want to have any fun outside of school, which is sort of where all the fun happens,'

Lily stopped smiling.

'Where have you been lately?' Myra asked her seriously.

Lily tried to shrug casually. She couldn't tell Myra the truth could she?

'I've just...been wigging about this French oral we've got last period. You know how much these mid-terms mean to me, my GPA and my chances of-'

'Getting into Columbia,' Myra rolled her eyes, 'I know,'

'It's all right for you,' Lily said, playfully punching Myra on the arm, 'you're already a shoo in at Princeton, what with your uncle being a professor there, he can spout endless praise about you. Whereas we mere mortals have to have to spend endless nights reading _Proust _in order to try and impress our interviewer next year,'

Lily rubbed her head, which had just started to throb, in order to demonstrate her point.

'Why would_ Dr. Marston _need to read Proust anyway?' Myra joked, tugging on one of Lily's black braids that was loosely hanging over a shoulder, 'And it's _next year. _Now stop giving yourself one of your headaches and help me figure out a way to get Scott to notice me in more than an annoying friend capacity,'

Lily laughed.

'Fine,' She bent down and opened her bag, 'Well, start with this,' She handed her a soft pink lip-gloss, 'with your complexion the peach isn't going to do anything,'

As she straightened up, Lily felt suddenly woozy.

'Thanks Lil,' Myra said, not noticing her friend suddenly sway on the spot, 'See, you were listening…LILY!' She let out a scream as she watched her friend's eyes roll to the back of her head and collapse in an ungainly motion on the bathroom floor.

Myra bent down next to her and began to shake her.

'Oh my God,' She cried, 'Lily! LILY!'

But Myra Reid didn't know what Lily was seeing behind her rolling eyes. She didn't know that at that exact moment, Lily was observing a moment that took place many, many years ago.

Like the first time she had a retrocognition, it took some time for Lily to comprehend the images unfolding before her. It was like watching a TV with a bad reception, these moving pictures were foggy, almost unclear, and it took Lily a while to realise, with immense surprise, that she was watching a scene that took place inside the rarely used dining room of her house about, what looked like, twenty years ago. She recognised the people sitting around the table immediately. Her heart soared as she recognised her grandparents, Piper and Leo Halliwell, and their two teenage sons, Wyatt and Chris, her father and uncle.

Her Dad was so close to her, it was painful. She wanted to reach out and touch him. She smiled at his perfect haircut, realising that even back then, when he was her age, her Dad wanted everything to be in order. But before she could even appreciate the sight of her grandparents, whom she had never met, she was dismayed to see that they all seemed to be in the middle of a heated discussion.

When the voices became clear enough to hear properly, Lily was aghast to find the argument concerned her father.

'_W__hy are you freaking out?' Her dad asked incredulously, 'It's a good thing that I'm going to college-'_

'_I will not have you living half way across the country Wyatt!' Lily's grandmother said angrily. There were tears in her brown eyes, 'I need you here where I know you are safe'_

'_Mom!' her Dad said, 'I can't have you watching my back all the time. I want to experience new things-' _

'_You can go anywhere,' His mother interrupted, angrily spearing a potato with her fork, 'anywhere but New York, do you know what it's like there? How much crime and pollution there is-'_

'_Yeah because pollution is going to kill me,' He interrupted._

'_NOT to mention,' Piper continued loudly, ' how many demon sects there are?' _

'_What, more than San Francisco?' A fourteen year old Uncle Chris asked angrily. Lily smiled as she took in Chris' appearance. He was wearing eyeliner, a heavy metal band t-shirt and a ripped leather jacket. He looked so much like Eric, Lily's tear-away cousin, had at that age that she found it incredible to believe that Chris found it hard to relate to Eric any way. _

'_God Mom, for a Charmed One who's seen everything you sure are narrow minded,' Chris continued._

'_Narrow minded am I?' her grandmother exploded, 'There are daily attacks on the family! Excuse me if I don't want one of my sons to go away from the fold and get killed!' _

'_I won't get killed,' her Dad told his mother, 'You, of all people, should understand why I'm doing this. You saw your powers as a curse, well, you don't have HALF as many powers as I do, and _I'm _the chosen one!' _

'_Damn straight bro,' Chris nodded energetically, 'Go to Columbia, get some girls, have some fun, complete your law degree. I can take care of all the evil shit around here,'_

'_Chris. Watch that ever so colourful mouth of yours please,' Her grandfather warned, rubbing his green eyes tiredly. _

'_Leo,' Piper continued, 'Tell him he can go anywhere to college once this is all over!'_

'_It may never be over,' Wyatt shouted. He drew back his chair and appealed to his father, 'There will never be a good time to do this so now is as good a time as any!' _

'_Piper,' Her grandfather reasoned, watching his wife's face turn white, 'It would only be for four years,' _

'_FOUR YEARS?' Lily's grandmother yelled, 'FOUR YEARS? We could all be dead before then. I cannot loose anyone else right now Leo,' _

_Lily's father stared at his mother as if seeing her clearly for the first time in his eighteen years. _

'_I've had enough of this,' He said, 'I thought you'd be happy for me. I got into Columbia, Mom. Columbia! I can finally get away from this life of demons and fighting evil and being this person I'm _so_ destined to become. I don't know who I am anymore. How can I find myself when you're pumping all this saving the world crap into me? Chris has accepted his fate, surely that's enough? I know I'm letting you down, but I'm not turning my back on the calling, which by the way I never wanted in the first place! I know I'm not going to be saving all these innocents, but don't you ever think that __I __need to be saved? I need to be saved from you Mom!' _

'_I'm the one saving your life by making you stay with us!' Piper shouted. _

'_Wyatt,' Leo said in a grave voice, getting up from the table too, 'Think about this. I understand what you are saying, but consider what's going on while you're making this decision. No matter what you chose I will support you, but the moment you turn your back on your calling, the moment you embrace a mortal life, you can never call yourself a Halliwell, your mother's legacy...' _

_By this point, Chris was looking up at his elder brother with a look of pure admiration and disbelief. Lily's grandmother had turned away from the table and hid her face in her hands. _

'_Little brother,' Her Dad said, laying a hand on the young Uncle Chris's shoulder, 'Do whatever you think is right, but don't let Mom brainwash you into thinking that being a witch is all you are,' _

'_I'm proud to be a witch,' Chris shrugged, 'I'm proud of who I am, and you will be too. You just need some time away from all of this in order to understand who you really are-'_

'_You leave Wyatt,' Piper said in a dangerous voice, 'And you can never come back,' _

_A shadow passed Wyatt's determined face. _

'_Don't say that Mom,' Her Dad was beginning to look upset, 'I love you, and I appreciate all the sacrifices you made for me, but you have to allow me to be my own person…and I think New York will help me with that,' _

_He reached out to take his mother's hand, but she wrenched it away and faced the wall. _

'_Get out,' She shrieked, 'Just get out!' _

'_Dad...' Her father pleaded, but Leo was trying to stop his wife from seizing various items on the table to throw at her eldest son. _

'_Get outta here Wy,' Her Uncle Chris advised, leaning across the table nonchalantly for some more meat, while his mother began picked up her plate and threw it in the direction of Wyatt. _

_It seemed her Dad didn't need telling twice. He gave his father a poignant nod and vanished in a swirl of blue/white light._

'Lily!' Myra's voice came to her through a cloudy haze, 'OK, wake up, and stop freaking me out-'

Lily had opened her eyes and found herself staring at the ceiling of the girls' bathroom. It took her several moments to understand remember why she was there. She sat up and regained her normal heart rate after a few deep, steady breaths.

Myra launched herself on top of Lily.

'Thank God you're all right!' Myra gushed, hugging her tight, 'You were seriously scaring me there for a moment,'

'Myra,' Lily groaned, 'Get off, I can hardly breathe,'

Myra pulled away.

'What happened Lil?' She demanded, 'Are you OK? Are you sick?'

'I need some water,' Lily croaked, voice sounding rusty. She forced a smile onto her face. This being only the second time she had a vision, she was still getting used to the nausea that came with them, 'I think I'm just dehydrated,'

Myra stared at her.

'You just completely blacked out' She said, 'Somehow, I don't think dehydration comes into it,' She took her friend by the arm and frogmarched her out of the bathroom, 'I'm taking you to the nurse,'

Lily dug her heels in.

'No!' She protested, 'I'm fine! I just need to cram for French, seriously, nothing's wrong. I'm going to get a drink then I'm heading to the library.'

Myra could only stare in amazement as she watched Lily go back into the bathroom, come out with her bag and head off in the opposite direction to the library.

'Hey,' Lily looked around and saw that she had walked straight past senior Freddy Whitepath, who was with his band mates, heading to practice.

She stopped dead in her tracks. Although they were all in a strictly alternative band, they were still the most popular boys in senior year, _and _the school. All four members came from rich families and they all went out with the coolest senior girls. Lily, not for the first time, wondered why on earth Freddy, who was the most desirable guy at schoolwas talking to her, despite being his brother's best friend's older sister, a mere shy junior.

'Where are you off to in such a hurry?' Freddy asked in an amused voice.

Freddy's friends all looked at her in interest. There were four of them in the band. Bruno Abbott, known as Red due to his crazy auburn hair, Peter Jefferson, or P.J, who was ruggedly handsome, blonde and loud, was on lead vocals, guitar, Gabe Leavy, the brooding, silent one who was the backing vocalist and bass player and of course Freddy, the all round nice-guy who was lead guitarist.

Red elbowed P.J. in the ribs in an annoyingly obvious way and told him, in a loud whisper; "Junior hottie alert".

'Oh,' She blushed like crazy, 'Just going to the, um, library. I've got this, erm, midterm later on and I…' She couldn't mortify herself anymore, she turned and sped away.

To her mortification, she heard them all burst out laughing as she turned the corner. Not wanting to check if _Freddy _was laughing, Lily just shook her head in disbelief. Although she couldn't believe her luck at continuing to act like such a dork in front of Freddy Whitepath, the fact that for the second time her powers came into action and she still saw the _past _not the future bothered her more. It was so confusing. They said her visions meant something, being able to see the future meant that you could stop events from happening. Why did she keep seeing pasts events? But Lily didn't understand why she had seen her father's past at all; it wasn't like she could quiz him about it when she got home. She couldn't talk to the dead.


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER ****NINETEEN**

'Holly!' Cal Whitepath called to Holly Marston when the lunch bell rang, running to catch up with her.

Holly turned around and resisted the usual 'eye rolling' routine that immediately came to her whenever Cal was in the vicinity.

'Hey Cal,' Holly said without enthusiasm, switching her books to her other arm.

'You dropped this,' He said, raising an eyebrow and handing her a copy of _Anna Karenina._

'Oh!' Holly said, accepting the book, 'Thanks,'

Cal's dark eyebrows furrowed, reading the name of the book he just gave back to her.

'_Anna Karenina_...we're not doing that in English...'

'Yeah I know,' She said hurriedly, trying to sound casual, 'I'm just reading it'

'_Reading _it?' He asked, agog. He looked as if he thought she'd just told him she was a member of Al Qaeda.

'Yes reading it,' She said exasperatedly, 'what, did you think I couldn't read or something?'

Her words had made him go red for some reason.

'What are you doing reading that? It's something Joe would read,' He scoffed.

'What's wrong with me reading a stupid book?' Holly asked, feeling the beginnings of the usual anger that came whenever people doubted her intelligence.

He shrugged.

'It just doesn't seem like you,' he said.

'How do you even _know _what I'm like?' Holly sighed.

'Oh, like we haven't hung out since fourth grade?' He said, rolling his eyes.

She wished he would go away. She wanted to get to the library before Owen did, and that he would succumb to a sudden impulse to sit next to her. Oh give it up! She told herself crossly. It's been weeks since you last talked, he's not exactly going to rush over and discuss Tolstoy with her. She picked it up in a moment of boredom from Lily's bookcase, and she found that she'd loved every page of it. She'd read it three times in the last month, and had taken to carrying it around with her.

'Where are you going?' Cal asked her quickly, thrown that she was heading towards Geek Central.

'I, er...have got to find my sister,' she lied.

'CAL!' Came a sharp voice, and they both turned around to find Alexi Newberry, most popular girl in the sophomore class, standing there with her hands on her cheerleader clad hips and a pissed off expression, 'What are you doing?'

Holly flushed with anger.

Ever since she quit cheerleading headship and the girl's soccer team a month ago, all her friends deserted her. Her best friend since kindergarten, Alexi hadn't spoken to her since then and demanded that the whole of their group pretend like Holly didn't exist.

'I'm talking to Holly!' Cal called back, exasperated, 'What does it look like?'

'Well, hurry up!' She hollered, flashing Holly a triumphant look that clearly stated _'I'm-everything-and-no-matter-what-you-do-I'll-always-win'_.

'I gotta get to...erm...practice,' Cal told her apologetically.

Holly nodded.

'Yeah, OK,' She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.

'See you in homeroom,' He said and gave her a friendly smile, before hurrying off to join Alexi on her way to the field.

Holly stared after him.

What was that? Why wasn't he making fun of her and acting like a grade one jerk? Cal had been acting strange ever since he got back from his holiday in Minnesota; he had been following her everywhere and making conversation, despite knowing what Alexi would think.

Shaking her head dark haired head, Holly switched her books to her other arm again, and made her way to the library. If only Cal wasn't such a sheep she might have started to like him.

* * *

><p>Holly's fourteen year old freshman sister was having trouble with another Whitepath. Cal's younger brother Brice was taking over their joint science project.<p>

'I thought you didn't _like _science?' Poppy hissed, folding her arms on the table as Brice cut into the frog that they were supposed to be dissecting together.

Brice looked up, tucking his freshly cut chin length hair behind an ear. His long jet-black hair used to be nearly as long as Poppy's, but when he got back from his grandfather's reservation last week; Poppy was shocked to see that it was half its normal length. He had said that his mother finally made him get it cut, paying him twenty dollars to do so, but Poppy knew that he got so annoyed with it that he must've cracked. She didn't understand why he lied.

'Oh sorry,' He said apologetically, and handed her the scalpel, 'Here,'

His hair wasn't the only thing that changed on the holiday. Poppy found herself getting annoyed with him from the smallest things. The night that he got back he didn't call her to catch up. Even though that Poppy was grounded, which meant that she couldn't get up to much anyway, she still was pissed off that he didn't ring her when he said he would. He was more secretive, he didn't tell her everything like he used to...and he was spending more and more time with his moronic brother Cal, who Poppy hated more than anyone else in the world, with the exception of Alexi Newberry. Up until a week ago she was sure that Brice felt the same about his brother, but when they both came into school on Monday morning she saw, to her utter dismay, them high-fiving each other.

'Whatever,' She growled, taking the scalpel.

Brice blinked. He didn't understand what was wrong with her since he came back. She was being so off with him and he didn't know what he'd done.

'What's wrong?' He whispered at once.

'Nothing's wrong,' She said immediately.

Brice raised an eyebrow.

'What have I done? Is it because I sat with my brother at lunch yesterday?'

'You said he _asked you to. _Who am I to tell you what you can and can't do? I'm not your mother,' Poppy snapped.

Brice grabbed her arm.

'God you're such a girl! Just tell me what's wrong,'

'Oh!' Poppy said, a little louder than she meant to, as the table in front of them, where the most popular girls in their grade Mandy Green and Lisa Kennedy turned to stare at them, 'You've finally noticed I'm a girl! Congratulations!'

Brice was beginning to feel more and more out of sync with every word she said.

'Poppy...can we talk about this later?' He didn't like the way that Mandy and Lisa had begun to whisper about them.

'Can you move away from me please?' She asked.

'What?' She was unbelievable!

'You're standing too close and holding on to me,' Poppy said, through gritted teeth, 'I can't dissect this thing with you breathing all over me!'

She wrenched her arm away from Brice's grip and accidentally dug the blade of the scalpel into the frog's heart, instead of its lung, sending blood everywhere. up

'Eurgh!' It went all over her shirt and she jumped back. Brice burst out laughing, having completely missed the eruption, but was silenced with the look Poppy gave him. She felt so angry. Why didn't her power to freeze occur when she _wanted _it to?

Brice went to get some paper towels, still chuckling, and came back to mop up the blood that was all over the lab bench.

He avoided looking at Poppy, because he was sure that if he looked at her, he would crack again, which would _not _help her mood.


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY **

When she got home from school Lily made her way up to her cousin's bedroom in the attic. She eased the door open and looked inside. It looked like no one was there. Great, Eric was out. Just when she needed him, he was nowhere to be seen, like always. His bed, which was always unmade, didn't even look as if it had been slept in the last few days.

What Eric did when he wasn't at the garage was anybody's guess. Lily knew that not even his grandparents, and her great aunt and uncle, knew the complete details of his whereabouts when he was out of the house. Eric was an enigma. Appearing only to offer advice when it wasn't necessarily wanted, he was nowhere to be found when sought directly for guidance. Figuring that she'd catch him sometime soon, and beginning to feel that she was worrying about nothing, Lily started to make her way back down the stairs when she caught sight of her weary looking cousin coming towards her on the staircase.

'Snooping about were you?' He grinned, green eyes sparkling with humour.

'Caught me,' Lily smiled, 'I was just coming up to see if you wanted some ice-cream,'

'But that's not why you're _really _here,' He said, walking straight past her and into his bomb sight of a bedroom, 'Well,' He turned around and cocked an eyebrow, 'Are you going to stand there all day?'

She followed him awkwardly into the room and past all the various amounts of old furniture, clothes and books that were lying everywhere.

'Just you home?' Eric asked, easing off his jacket and throwing it onto a chintz couch.

Lily nodded and sat down on an old armchair.

'Yeah,' She said, 'Chris is at work, Holly's in drivers ed and Poppy and Brice are at the movies. I think Phoebe and Coop are at some old friend's house or something,'

Eric nodded.

'I know,' He said, 'they gave me the heads up, something about some old school reunion,' He let out a laugh, 'Like hell you'd catch _me _at one of those. So, are you going to tell me what you're doing in my room or do I have to guess?

He spoke to her seriously now, all banter aside. Ever since her little sister Poppy was involved in a demon kidnapping a month ago, an event that triggered her powers of premonition and retrocognition, Lily had been spending more and more time alone. She didn't want to look at Holly, after seeing the events that took place the night Mom and Dad had died and what Holly had been through, and she didn't know how to talk to Poppy anymore, now that Poppy had come face to face with death and Lily had freaked out.

Eric had watched Lily become more reclusive over the last few weeks and it worried him. He saw the fear in Lily's eyes everytime he saw her, and recognised it as the fear someone had when everthing they believed in was ebbing further and further away from them.

Lily had often sought after Eric in the house. He was impartial, not having connection like siblings, but they were close. Lily found herself opening up to Eric well into the early hours of the morning while the rest of the house was asleep.

'I had a retrocogntion today,' Lily told Eric quietly.

Eric's eyes widened.

'Another one?' He asked, 'What of?'

It was unusual for a witch to see so many gimpses of the past. In modern witch craft, the future, and the power of precognition, was a more prevelent and widely acknowledged as a more 'stable' power.

'Of Dad,' She said, 'It was embarrassing. Myra was there, rabbiting on about Scott and I went all voodoo on her…I'm doing a good job of convincing everyone I'm a nut job with Poppy contacting me every time she wants a stick of gum and making me black out,'

'Yeah...' Eric said impatiently, 'But what did you see in your vision?'

'Oh,' He'd noticed she had been stalling on purpose, 'I saw Dad the night he turned his back on the family. I had no idea he would be abandoning his calling if he went away to college-'

'We're living in a different time, Lil,' Eric said softly, 'Don't worry about leaving things behind, anyway, Chris isn't going to make you choose between your family and your future,'

'I know he's not like that,' Lily said.

Eric leant in closer, curious and contemplative as she told him exactly what she had seen earlier that day.

'What were you andMyratalking about before it happened?' Eric asked once she had finished.

'About college,' She said uncomfortably, 'Boys, school, nothing important, pointless stuff really,'

Eric saw right through her though.

'You still haven't told Chris that you're applying toColumbia?' He asked sharply.

Lily shook her dark haired head and avoided his gaze.

'No, I was debating whether to or not before the vision. But now I've seen it, I've been thinking about it all day, and what Chris would say when I told him I wanted to go to New York,' She sighed, 'Chris is not the boy who I saw in the vision anymore, not at all. Maybe he won't react like Piper, but I'm sure he's going to react in some way.'

'He won't blow up or tell you you can never be a Marston anymore, I promise you that. He wants what's best for _you_,'

'Yeah, you can say that but-'

'The vision came to you for a reason,' Eric soothed, 'It doesn't take a genius to work out that it seems to be telling you not to repeat the past. You have to tell Chris about your plans. He's your uncle and legal guardian; he can't be kept in the dark. Why do you think Piper blew up like that? By Wyatt not telling his Mom until a week or so before he left, Piper felt as if she lost her son. Don't let Chris lose his niece…'

'Dad kept on telling his mom about how he wanted to live his own life,' Lily recalled, 'And how he didn't want to fight demons anymore. How many demons did he and Chris have to kill before they were eighteen? Chris looked about twelve, and he was talking about how much he loved doing it…'

'I'm not _that _old, so I don't know what they went through back then,' Eric shrugged, 'But I think that they were fighting demons without their parents knowing since Chris was about ten and your father was thirteen. But they were probably more skilled than you and your sisters are, they'd spent a lot of time atMagicSchool and had known they were witches their whole lives,'

'I can't image what it was like for Dad and Chris,' Lily said, 'I didn't really realise that they went through it all too,'

Lily realised that perhaps the vision meant for her to talk to her uncle, find out more about her calling. She already had Aunt Phoebe teaching her and her sisters the books, potions, spells, family history and all that, but Aunt Phoebe hadn't been a _teenage _witch. She got her powers when she was in her early twenties Uncle Chris would have more of a grasp of what the girls would go through. But Chris never wanted to talk about the past. He had been through so much.

'Well, _I _don't have any problems with fighting evil,' Eric said, and pulled back the sleeve of his jumper to expose a seven-inch long gash in his arm, 'I like it, personally,'

'ERIC!' Lily gasped, jumping up from her seat and rushing over to him, 'When did you get that?'

'Two days ago,' He said, chuckling, 'haven't been home since; it was cursed and turned septic. Not pretty. A friend of mine sorted it out though, so I'm all good. Just gotta let it heal,'

There was a casualness in his tone of voice that made Lily certain he wasn't telling her everything. She gave him a long hard stare and flopped down on the sofa next to him.

'I wish you wouldn't pretend to be some sort of crusader,' She grumbled, 'You're going to get yourself killed,'

He put an arm around her shoulder.

'You worry far too much,' He said.

'You tell me that worrying about a retrocognition is extremely ridiculous then?' She asked incredulously.

'OK,' Eric grinned, 'another retrocognition is pretty weird, but your more experienced cousin is telling you not to worry. If something major did come up, then we'd tackle it, but seeing your teenage Dad have a family crisis isn't anything to loose sleep over,'

'Are you sure?' Despite herself, Lily felt her heart soar with hope.

'Yeah,' Eric nodded.

'You still think I should tell Uncle Chris about it?'

'I would,' Eric advised, 'He likes to know whats happening you three, even if you all seem to be living on separate planes recently,'

* * *

><p>Holly was having a look around some independent bookstores after her driving lesson. She liked knowing that they were privately owned, that the books in there weren't tainted by some corporate monstrosity with a Starbucks inside. The people who worked there seemed to really care about their customers, taking time to search for books with them or to recommend something off the wall and hard to find if they knew that that was what they were after. One particular store, <em>Chronicles<em>, was Holly's favourite. It was an old rickety store with a twist, all the books were stacked and ordered by the color of the book cover rather than by author. It always meant that you had to ask a store advisor where something was, which Holly loved because it gave her a chance to discover new things about books and history and the people who worked there were really interesting.

Having just purchased a limited edition of _Anna Karenina_ with a beautiful silk cover, she left the store feeling jubilant. She was just walking past the music store next door to _Chronicles _when she caught sight of Freddy Whitepath through the window, wearing a beautifully cut brown leather jacket, bright indigo hoodie, slim jeans and brightly coloured Adidas sneakers, browsing the records at the back.

Smiling, she went into the store to say hello.

'Hey Freddy,' She said as she drew level with him. They were vague friends as they often saw each other at parties but with all the things that had been happening lately Holly hadn't had a chance to catch up. She didn't think she'd seen him since that time she got her drink spiked at the club.

'Holly,' Freddy beamed when he saw her and pulled her into a hug, 'How are you doing?'

'Fine thanks. Just doing some shopping, delaying going home, the usual,' She smiled, 'What are you doing?'

'Pretty much the same,' He laughed, exposing his perfect teeth and cute dimples in his cheeks. 'I've been asked to DJ at _Dawsons_ on Saturday so I've been looking through the electro and house…don't think the crowd there would be into the band stuff,'

'No,' Holly wrinkled her nose. Not that she'd ever been, but _Dawsons_ was a really cool club which played strictly underground electronica. Resident DJs from London, Paris and Berlin were always headlining and the unbelievable queue outside on Friday and Saturday nights hinted at the joys to be had inside. 'How did you manage to secure _Dawsons_? That's quite incredible.'

'I know,' Freddy said modestly, 'I was there with the guys last week looking into borrowing some equipment from the manager. We got talking and I mentioned that I was heading toBerlinat Christmas to catch a few DJs and one thing led to another. It's a hard shift though, I've only done a few small-town venues downtown and never on my own.'

'What slot have you got?'

'Two til four,' He said, grimacing, 'The biggie. Hey, you should come!'

'Really?' Holly was taken aback. She wasn't that close to Freddy, and there was no way she would be able to get into _Dawsons_.

'I don't know…'

'No you should,' Freddy nodded enthusiastically, 'I'm allowed to invite some people. You can bring a friend.'

'A friend?' Did he mean a date?

'Yeah,' Freddy said, the corners of his mouth turning up in a slight smirk, 'a guy? Who are you seeing at the moment? I imagine he's infinitely better than Danny Greenborough, you deserve to be with someone who can keep up with you, and no offence to the guy, but I think that football has hit him on the head one too many times if you know what I mean,'

'Thanks…' Holly let out a laugh, 'I think.'

Would this be an opportunity to ask Owen out? She'd only been with him to the cinema once, and that had purely started as a fly-by to borrow a book from him. But she ended up staying and watch a deserted showing of _Mrs Doubtfire _with him, supplied with mountains of free butter popcorn and soda from Owen. It had been fun, she could barely remember _Mrs Doubtfire_ and it had been so great to share it with Owen, who knew it off by heart and startled her with a rare flash of his humour with his brilliant impressions of the characters.

'So who are you planning on bringing?' Holly asked in interest, rifling through the records near them. She had never heard of any of the artists that were stacked in these boxes. She must not be alternative or hip enough to listen to this sort of thing. Now that she thought about it, it was a bit weird that Freddy was asking her to join him and his friends to _Dawsons__. _Although she knew that he definitely asked her because he was such a great friendly guy, he had to know that this wasn't really her scene.

Freddy's next sentence, however, made his motives crystal clear.

'I was thinking of asking Lily.' Freddy said, looking down at his shoes in an unusual display of shyness.

'My sister?' Holly tried to contain her surprise. She didn't even know they knew each other.

'Yeah, I've been meaning to ask her out for a while now,' Holly noticed the tips of his ears redden, 'I've seen her around lately but every time I get near her she always goes darting off in the other direction. I thought she might like a decent night out.'

'Yeah the one you caught her on last time wasn't exactly very fun for her.'

'Hmm, I don't think that guy knew what he was doing,' Freddy said jokily, 'It seemed as if he had missed a few classes in dating101.'

'You're right on that one,' Holly said, beginning to twig that Freddy might be more interested in her sister than his casual tone was hinting, 'I can ask her if you like, but I'm not sure _Dawsons _is her sort of thing,'

'That's what I thought too, but I'm so rammed with stuff at the moment Saturday is the only night I can really do. They do some great food downstairs in the early evening. If we all head there for nine we can grab something to eat before we head into the club. It'll be fun to get a chance to hang out together.'

'We'd be happy to support you, Freddy,' Holly said, knowing that an offer to hang out from Freddy Whitepath was something you should not turn down.

'Really?' Freddy asked, looking hopeful, 'We'll definitely get a chance to hang out before I play, and I know it might be a drag but you guys wouldn't have to stay for the whole of my set.'

'Freddy, even though your set's going to be great, I just really want a chance to check out _Dawsons_,' Holly joked.

Freddy laughed. 'Awesome, well, I'm going to get these,' He flashed her a pile of records under his arm, 'Are you all right to get home? I can give you a lift if you need one?'

'Oh no, I'm OK,' Holly said, 'My uncle's picking me up in ten minutes. I want to buy the new Nicole Scherzinger record anyway.'

Freddy raised an eyebrow.

'Please tell me you're messing with me?'

'Nope,' Holly grinned without embarrassment, 'Love it.'

'Right, well, if I don't see you before, see you Saturday. I'll try and catch Lily around school to make sure she's all right with it all. Where is she normally at lunch?'

'The tutor center,' Holly said, 'She normally helps out Freshman with their homework then.' Holly hoped she sounded casual, not wanting to make her sister sound like a massive dork.

'Cool,' Freddy smiled again, 'Thanks. See you Saturday. It was nice to bump into you.' With a nod he ambled up to the cashier to pay. As soon as he was out of the store Holly whipped out her cell and immediately dialled Lily's number.

'You're not going to believe this,' Holly said excitedly the moment Lily answered.

'What?' Lily asked apprehensively, knowing full well that the sort of things that got Holly excited normally made her want to roll her eyes.

'I'm in _Relay Records _and I just ran into Freddy Whitepath. He's playing at _Dawsons_ on Saturday and he asked we wanted to go out to dinner there first!'

'We? What do you mean?'

'I mean…!' Holly was beginning to get impatient, 'Freddy wants to ask you out! He only asked me along because I'm your sister!'

'You're joking?' Holly could hear the shock in her sisters voice, 'That's insane! Are you for real?'

'Yes! Why would I make something like that up? I think he's into you!'

'But…why?'

'Why not?' Holly said protectively, 'You're amazing! You're smart, you're beautiful, you have integrity. You should have more Freddy's queuing up to ask you out! You're going right?'

'Wow,' Lily breathed, 'That's…I can't quite…wow,'

'Right,' Holly said briskly, 'Well, tomorrow after school we're hitting the shops. _Dawsons_requires a new pair of shoes at least,'

'Really?' Lily panicked, 'But…what if I can't find anything decent to wear?'

'Calm down,' Holly soothed, 'You're with me. I'm a master when it comes to clothes. We'll find you something even if it kills me.'

* * *

><p><em> I had to do it! Had to get both Eric and Freddy in there. I hope Holly is becoming a favourite now. (She's probably my favourite sister, probably because I wish I had half of her guts and audacity). Stay tuned for more Eric and Freddy action...and some surprising moves from Cal. Please review. <em>

_(Also, Holly and Eric are the only ones who know Lily's powers have been activated. Poppy does't know)_


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

'This is crazy!' Lily exclaimed as she rifled through another rack of clothes, 'I have no idea what I'm doing! What sort of thing do you wear to an electro club/designer restaurant?'

It was after school on Friday afternoon and the two sisters were pounding the pavement looking for outfits for their 'dates' tomorrow night. They were currently in a store called _Destin_, a French alternative boutique where every item of clothing seemed to be black. It was the seventh store they had searched, and after leaving six with nothing to show for their efforts Lily was finding herself getting more and more panicked with the whole thing.

'Well, not that for starters,' Holly said shrewdly, nodding towards the outfit that Lily was holding limply against her – a black sequined jump-suit, 'You'll need to undo it every time you go to the bathroom. Jump-suits are the worst thing to wear if you're at a place like _Dawsons_, the queue for the girls room is likely to be astronomical and by the time you get into the stall you'll be so pissed off you'll curse yourself for wearing something as high-maintenance as a jump-suit.'

Lily gave her sister a look that was half-awe and half-appreciation.

'Ooook then,' She said, putting it back on the rail. 'Thank heavens you're here Hol. I honestly would be lost without you.'

'Well, I'm lost in here,' Holly scowled and took her sister's arm, 'Come on, let's get out of here. I don't think we want to look like French 60s movie stars.'

They made their way back onto the street and headed into the next store.

'Do you know, I can't remember the last time we went shopping together.' Holly wondered, beginning her prowl through the shop in search of something.

'It was the Sunday before….well…you know,' Lily said at once, her memory faultless, 'You, me, Mom and Poppy were looking for something for Poppy to wear to Brice's birthday party.'

'Oh yeah!' Holly grinned, 'We got so annoyed with her for being so indecisive that you and I ended up spending the afternoon in Starbucks while Mom stayed with Poppy. What do you think of this?' Holly took a halter neck hippy-ish denim mini dress from the rail and held it up for Lily to see.

'Hmmm, a maybe,' Lily said, 'Mom always was patient. No matter how mad we all got at each other Mom always found a way to stay calm. Ooh, this would look nice on you!'

Holly looked at the outfit Lily had chosen for her. It was a cream strapless body-con dress patterned with alternate thick neon green and neon blue stripes. It was very out there, perfect for _Dawsons_.

'Wow,' Holly said, impressed. 'That's quite a find Lil! And only $48 as well!'

She tried it on in the changing room and came out to show Lily how it fitted.

Lily gazed at her sister in wonder. It fitted her like a glove. It came just an inch above the knee, therefore making the dress classier than your average strapless number, and showed off her curves perfectly.

'You look amazing!' Lily grinned, 'Owen won't know what to do with himself!'

Holly gave her sister a slightly panicked look.

'I don't want to intimidate him! Maybe I should wear just wear an LBD?'

'NO!' Lily cried out, 'You love this dress! And why should you change just to impress a boy? You love wearing great clothes and making an effort, if he doesn't get that then he doesn't deserve your time.'

Holly smiled.

'That's sweet. You know I'm just freaking out because he said yes. I honestly thought he'd turn me down.'

It had come as a complete shock to her. The day after she had seen Freddy in _Relay Records_ Owen had sat with her at lunch. Taking this as a good sign, in conjunction to the easy conversation they were having, Holly plucked up the courage to ask Owen out. After staring at her in silence for a few beats, a faint blush broke out onto his cheeks. He had nodded and said that he would love to. Luckily the bell rang to spare Holly and Owen any more embarrassment and they rushed off to their next classes without looking at each other. They hadn't seen each other since but Owen did text earlier that day asking her what time should he pick she had told him that Freddy was picking her and Lily up at nine so he should aim to come to her house a little before then if he wanted to come with them. He'd replied joking about the late time and said that he was looking forward to it. What with Freddy taking her anti-social sister out, and her old bully agreeing to take _her _out, Holly was having a hard time getting used to it all.

'Of course he said yes,' Lily told her sister gently, as Holly went back into the changing room, 'You guys aren't seven any more, you've both grown up and become different people. I think it's great. Owen seems like a really nice guy. If anything I would say that he's liked you for ages and that because of who you hung around with he was too scared to do anything about it.'

'Do you really think so?' Holly asked her sceptically through the curtain, it seemed a bit far-fetched.

'Yeah. I see the way he looks at you when you're studying in the library with him.'

While her sister finished changing she resumed the search for something she could wear tomorrow night. She reached the back of the store and saw it. On a lone peg hung a beautiful, understated Kimono-style dress the colour of dusky pink roses with a purple, peach, cream and raspberry coloured paisley print embossed into the material. She sucked in her breath as she gathered the dress, it fell like water through her hands.

'Buy it.' Came a voice, and she turned around to see Holly gazing at her determinedly. 'It's so you.'

Lily looked at the price tag and felt her heart sink. $90.

'It's nearly a hundred bucks!'

'So? What are you planning on spending your tutor money on? More books? Come on, you must have saved at least $700 since September. What harm's $90 spent on a beautiful, unique dress going to do to your college fund?'

Lily hesitated. Holly had a point. She earned at least $400 a month, what was one little splurge on something she really needed?

'Come on,' Holly urged, knowing what her sister was like, 'It's late. We've been in millions of shops. If you don't buy it now it will be gone tomorrow and you won't sleep tonight because you know you've made a mistake by turning it down.'

'Okay,' Lily sighed, feeling guilt mix with the joy that was mounting in her chest.

She hadn't been able to sleep for days she was that excited/nervous/terrified about her date with Freddy. Although Holly had warned her, nothing had prepared her for the moment when Freddy had asked her out. She had been helping her Tom, her favourite freshman, out with his geometry homework in the tutor center lunchtime Tuesday when Freddy knocked at the door. Nearly tripping over her chair to open it, Freddy came in and asked her straight out if she would like to go out to dinner on Saturday night. He'd told her that a few of his friends were going to go too, as if knowing this would help alleviate the pressure on Lily and her shyness, and that she was welcome to stay on to see his set if she wanted to. Lily had just nodded, feeling dazed, and exchanged phone numbers with him before he had left her dumbstruck, in a haze of his yummy boy smell – lemons mixed with washing detergent.

'I can't believe we both managed to find something!' Lily beamed as they exited the shop.

'Yeah! What is this place even called?' Holly wondered, and turned around to look at the store sign they had just vacated. _Charmed _– it announced.

Lily and Holly looked at each other in incredulity.

'Well,' Lily laughed, 'for the first time since I can remember it certainly feels like it.'

* * *

><p>The sisters were just on their way to the bus stop when Lily's cell rang.<p>

'Freddy?' Holly asked hopefully. Holly knew he had been texting her a little bit since he ambushed her on Tuesday.

'Great aunt Phoebe,' Lily shook her head and answered, 'Hello?'

'Hey Lil, I'm just fixing up dinner and I realised I forgot to buy salad at the supermarket! Could you please bring some home with you?'

'Yeah, sure, that's fine.'

'Great! Thanks. So, did you manage to find something to wear?'

'Yeah, I did! I'll show you when we get home,'

'Good job! I remember how much I hated shopping with Piper, so much indecision! Dinner will be ready at seven.'

'Okay, yeah we should be back by then.'

'Okay hon, see you later,'

'Bye.' Lily said, hanging up. She turned to her Holly, 'We have to get salad on our way home.'

'That's cool, we'll just get off a stop before our street and head to the deli onHenry Street.' Holly sighed as the bus choked up at the stop, 'I passed my drivers ed this week this week and we still have to take public transport. Something's not right here. God, I loathe the bus.'

'Ha, you sound like Molly Ringwald in _Sixteen Candles_.'

'Well it's true!' Holly didn't bother to drop her voice as they boarded and took their seats, 'It's full of Farmer Ted's!'

Lily shot her sister a look.

'Holly,' She said in a warning voice, the same one she used when Holly poked fun at Brice and other fellow 'geeks'. 'You're going on a date with one of those so-called Farmer Ted's tomorrow night!'

'Owen's hot! And he has way too much class to try and steal my underwear.' Holly said unabashedly, 'Ugh, I can't believe we have to go to the store. All I want to do is crash when we get home. What's Poppy even doing tonight? I swear she does, like, no chores,'

'She does plenty,' Lily frowned, 'And I think she's at Brice's.'

'She seriously needs to get to a grip. If she wants Brice she has to tell him, otherwise she's going have no experience whatsoever when it comes to boys. They keep falling out and I'm fed up of listening to her get upset with him over the stupidest things, like his _hair!_'

'Poppy's fourteen!' Lily cried in alarm, well aware that she herself probably had less experience with boys than her youngest sister, 'Way to young to get into a relationship with someone!'

'I was dating when I was fourteen!'

'Yeah, and look where that got you,' Lily remarked shrewdly, 'a boyfriend you now loathe even more than this bus,'

Holly stuck her tongue out at her sister.

* * *

><p>'Hey girls!' The owner of their local deli Vern called as they entered the store twenty minutes later, 'Bit late to do a food shop isn't it?'<p>

'Phoebe forgot the salad,' Holly rolled her eyes as she picked up a lettuce and some tomatoes.

'Now, now,' Vern said, brandishing an authoritative finger in her direction, 'I've known Phoebe since she was a little girl. If my darling Phoebe forgets a salad then there must be something wrong with the world.'

'Is this guy for real?' Holly asked her sister in undertone.

Lily glared at her.

'She's just busy with work,' Lily said to Vern, 'She's writing a new book.'

'Ah yes!' Vern gushed enthusiastically, his black busy eyebrows dancing, 'I love her work! So funny! I have her sign them for me when they're published! I love living near a local celebrity,'

'You should try living _with_ one.' Holly said darkly as she gave Vern the items for the salad. Holly and her sisters always felt the legacy of their Charmed heritage. It was everywhere in the house, from tens of photos of Piper, Leo, Chris, Wyatt and Melinda, Phoebe and her daughters Kim, Isobel and baby Violet, Paige and her children and Prue, to the potion ingredients in the fridge and the spell books, weaponry and crystals in the attic.

'Hahaha!' Cried Vern, oblivious to their witch identity and thus missing the connotation, 'You're as funny as Phoebe was when she was your age, and just as beautiful! Bet you run circles around all the boys like she did!'

Holly opened her mouth to give him a taster of her wit when the door to the deli opened and Eric came in, arm around a buxom red head, wearing matching leather jackets.

'Holly!' Eric stopped dead at the sight of his cousin by the cashier, 'What are you doing here?'

'Picking up some salad for dinner,' Holly replied coolly, giving his companion a once over. She'd never seem Eric with a girl before, but she had a say this one lived up to her expectations. She'd always had Eric down for liking cheap girls like this one, with their fake nails, big hair and swelling cleavage. God was Eric a walking stereotype or what? 'I'm here with Lil.'

Lily, who had been perusing the range of olive oils at the front of the store, was looking at Eric and his friend with an expression Holly couldn't quite identify. It looked a little like hurt.

'Oh,' Eric finally caught sight of Lily and dropped the arm he had around the redhead's shoulders immediately, 'Erm, hey Lily,'

'Hi Eric,' Was it just Holly or did he look a little awkward?

'Uh, Eric,' His redheaded escort moaned, leaning into him, 'Come on,'

'Oh, sorry Darlene,' Eric said, gathering himself and directing his attention to Vern, 'We were just grabbing some smokes. Usual please Vern,20.'

Vern dug around under the counter and handed Eric a pack of cigarettes. Lily couldn't help but notice Darlene's hand running up and down Eric's arm suggestively.

Eric handed Vern a note and thrust the pack to Darlene, who opened the packet with greedy hands and took one out ready.

'No lighting up in here!' Vern cried at once.

'Duh, I know!' Darlene sneered rolled her heavily made-up eyes, 'God, what are you? A narc?'

'No, I'm just someone who cares about his fellow customers, not everyone smokes.' Holly, who didn't even like Vern a minute ago, found herself warming to the guy for being able to stand up to that withering stare.

Darlene, who had opened her mouth again to retort, was cut off by Eric.

'Come on Darl, let's get out of here,' He said diplomatically, taking her elbow and guiding her out of the store, 'Tell Phoebe I won't be home for dinner!' He called over his shoulder to Lily and Holly.

Lily stared after them, feeling confusion mount in her chest. Seeing Eric with a girl, much less a rude _confident_ girl was strange. Lily knew that Eric got around, but seeing it in person was much harder to swallow than the rumours that had hitherto made up his dating history.

As if knowing what Lily was experiencing internally, Holly placed a reassuring hand on her arm.

'We should go,' Holly said, understanding in her aquamarine eyes, 'Phoebe's expecting us. I glad he's not going to be there for dinner! No way do I want to hear about his antics with _Darl_,'

Lily smiled weakly. She wasn't even interested in Eric but the disappointment coursing through her veins hinted that perhaps she was a little more interested than she had previously allowed herself to consider.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry this is a) such a short chapter, b) lacking in any magic and c) a bit samey with the boy-ishness. I'll update with the big stuff soon, I promise! Please review xx<em>


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

'Well this is nice!' Phoebe said, 'It's been so long since we were all sat down to dinner together.' She directed this last comment at Coop, who had missed dinner for the last six nights because of work. Last week he had been given a promotion, a role which made him a sort of guardian and guide to younger cupids who were just starting out. It was a tough gig, most of them were young men who grew up to think that love meant a quick fumble, rather than the true meaningful thing similar to what he had shared with Phoebe for many years. Most nights Coop came home just before bedtime frustrated, exhausted and feeling incredibly out of touch with youth.

'Poppy, Chris and Eric aren't here,' Coop pointed out, helping himself to the dish of mashed potatoes in front of him.

'Where is Eric?' Phoebe asked, face falling. She had been hoping for a proper family meal, the type Piper was so keen on when she was alive. Chris had rang at seven to say he was on his way and to start without him and Poppy had arranged to go over to Brice's earlier that week because they had to finish a report for extra credit for biology.

'We saw him in the deli on our way home from shopping,' Holly declared, before Lily had a chance, 'He said to apologise and that he wasn't going to make it.'

Lily gave her sister an appreciative look, the Darlene and Eric encounter still playing on her mind.

'He was two streets away and couldn't make it to dinner?' Chris's voice snarked, announcing his arrival, 'I was all the way across town.'

'Hey Uncle Chris!' Lily smiled, thrilled to see him.

He ambled into the room, pulling off his tie as he came in and sighed into the seat opposite her. He looked worn out, his light blue shirt creased at the elbows and his green eyes red with fatigue. Like Coop, Chris was _always _at work. Forget Phoebe berating her husband about being late for dinner, Lily couldn't remember a time in the last month when he'd been able to share an evening meal with the family.

'Hey Lily,' Chris's face transformed when he smiled back at his niece, all goodness, light and humour – a side that anyone rarely saw. 'Have you all had a nice day? This looks great Pheebs.' Chris nodded admiringly toward the chicken casserole in front of him, 'I haven't eaten since breakfast.'

'Thanks Chris,' Phoebe smiled gratefully. Cooking didn't come that easily to her but it did help that she had a family to care for, it meant that she had to churn out meals every day which gave her a lot of time to perfect her less-than adequate cooking skills over the years.

'Why don't you just orb everywhere?' Holly asked her uncle in interest.

'What do you mean?'

'You have to drive home from the other side of the city in rush hour to come home to dinner. Why don't you just orb?'

'Well,' Chris considered, his green eyes turning serious once again, 'personal gain, obviously.'

'What's that?' Lily asked, nonplussed.

Chris, Coop and Phoebe all looked at each other in slight dismay. Had they never mentioned the core tenet of modern day witchcraft to them? Perhaps because they were so young, and not yet fully fledged witches, the 'basics' had somehow been replaced by a more abstract and haphazard sort of learning. Without an education at Magic School from a young age, which Wyatt had resolutely been against, it was hard to remember what the girls did and did not know about their heritage.

'Personal gain…' Phoebe started awkwardly, not knowing where to begin, 'It's a sort of principle witches live by. Your powers, they're extremely powerful and should be used to help the innocent and for a good cause external to yourself, meaning that you shouldn't use your powers for personal reasons.'

'_Shouldn't_…that doesn't mean we can't though,' Holly picked up astutely.

'Technically yes, although using your powers for personal gain is almost 100% disastrous towards the witch who casts. Most spells of that kind backfire, Paige once tried to give a misogynistic jerk at work a taste of his own medicine and came home with big knockers-'

Holly sniggered, but Phoebe's look stopped her in her tracks.

'-it's no laughing matter Holly. I once used my powers to try and find out the winning lottery numbers which didn't work. One time Prue, Piper and I tried to give our neighbour who let a dog poop on our property a piece of our mind which ended up having a catastrophic effect on our futures…I was outed as a witch, I killed a man and would have been burnt at the stake if we hadn't abused our powers on our neighbour to suit our own ends. Luckily none of those things happened, but a trip to ten years into the future and being burnt at the stake isn't something you tend to forget. The fall out from using their powers for personal gain is just something a witch never wants to experience.'

'But Poppy's used her powers like that all the time, she contacts me asking me what I want for breakfast or if I'm heading into the shower!' Lily exclaimed, frightened that Poppy would be punished like Phoebe had been.

'It's OK,' Chris conciliated, unusually kind, 'Children and young adults tend to have a little leeway. It will only become a problem once Poppy's got more of a grasp on her powers.'

'It's like there's a guidebook to being a witch,' Holly grumbled, 'I wish we had the manual. Learning how to drive was much easier.'

Her words reminded Chris of something.

'Holly,' He began, getting up from the table to retrieve something from his suit jacket pocket. 'I was in the safe in your father's office earlier looking for a few files and I found this. It's addressed to you.'

Holly, Lily, Phoebe and Coop all looked in interest at what he was now holding out in his hand. It was a plain white envelope.

Holly looked at it suspiciously.

'It's open,' She commented, eyes narrowing.

'I know,' Chris said, looking guilty, 'It was in Wyatt's handwriting. I thought that we had recovered all of his personal effects but this seemed to have been missed. I just wanted to see if it was anything that I needed to protect you from…' Holly's mouth opened furiously to protest, but Chris overrode her, 'I'm really sorry. But…I know he's your Dad and everything, but he was my brother. We hadn't been close since he left home and seeing something from him just made instincts take over. He had a lot of secrets and was determined above all else to keep you girls from the life we used to lead. I thought it was some demon trick. I understand if you're mad, _I _would be mad, but I think you're going to like what's inside.'

Holly didn't say anything as she took the envelope from Chris.

She turned it over in her hands, her heart racing. She and her dad had been a team, they had done everything together. They had similar temperaments and living without him was a daily torture. Seeing him be blown apart by a demon wasn't exactly what every girl wishes her on her father and discovering that her best friend in the whole world, her ally, her hero had kept a secret from her her whole life, that they were a family of witches, was a betrayal she wasn't likely to ever forgive him for. She tried so hard to remember her father as he had been before he had been killed but a hidden envelope with her name on it, as well as various 'secrets' like her true identity, indicated that her Dad wasn't exactly happy to stay in the 'perfect' mould she had tried to craft for him in her memory.

She took the sheath of paper out of the envelope and read it to herself, self-conscious under the curious looks of everyone else in the room.

_Hey Ace!_

_Congratulations on passing your driving test! First time too, I knew you could do it. I'm so so proud of you my independent girl. Mom and I knew you'd be the one to pass first, so we've been saving up some money for you. We want you to buy yourself a nice little car to match your amazing personality and stop bugging us to drive you to and from parties! The rest of the cash should cover insurance for the first year and a little bit of gas money. Now, get a job so you can pay for full tanks of gas to get you to the places you always __need__ to be! Now, be safe on the road. We don't need another speeder like me in the family!_

_Love you_

_Dad_

Holly finished reading with tears streaming down her face. Also inside the envelope was a cheque for twelve thousand dollars.

'What is it?' Lily whispered with dread when Holly looked up from the letter, mind whirring.

Holly took a deep, steadying breath and re-read the letter out loud for everyone else to hear.

'Money for a car?' Coop said, 'Wow Holly that's wonderful! You've always wanted a little retro mini cooper!'

'What a gift!' Phoebe agreed, 'Wyatt always was very generous. He was always spoiling you girls.'

Holly wiped the tears from her eyes and looked at Lily.

Lily had taken the letter from her to read herself. Her hand touched the paper where Wyatt's hands touched it. She looked physically shaken, her face was ashen.

'Lil?'

Lily looked at her, her brown eyes sad. She gave her a weak smile.

'You were always Dads girl.' She said, giving the letter back. 'He didn't have nicknames for me and Poppy,'

'Lily, you know he loved you all the same,' Chris said gently, aware how biased the whole situation was and cursing himself for not realising how this might affect Lily. 'He probably has letters like this for all of you, you know your college fund is there Lil,'

'I know,' Lily nodded sadly, 'It's just…a letter.'

'I know,' Holly admitted, fully taken by how personal the letter made everything. 'I wish I could say something to him…thanks Chris,' Holly added earnestly to her uncle, 'y'know, for giving me the letter.'

'Of course!' Chris reached out across the table and clasped her hand, 'Holly, I'm proud of you too.'

It was the most touching comment and gesture he had ever given her and made fresh tears spring in the backs of her eyes.

* * *

><p><em>'Ace' courtesy of The Gilmore Girls's resident idiot Logan Huntzberger. (Jess Mariano fan for life)<em>

_Soraya – you'll have to wait and see about Cal. Like Holly, I hope he surprises you :)_

_Please review! _


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

Poppy walked through the cemetery alone. It was about four in the afternoon on Saturday. Her sisters were getting ready for their dates and caught up with the excitement of it all. Poppy had sat there listening to them both, feeling incredibly left-out and alone. Being the youngest sister meant that she had everything last. She was last to go to high-school, last to get nice clothes, last to start her period and last to go on a date. When their mother was alive, Ivy had always tried her utmost to spare Poppy the pain of feeling like a third wheel by taking time to do her homework with her and she used to read stories to her before she went to sleep when she was little. Poppy loved feeling like she was her mother's favourite, her mom's special girl. Chris took time to treat all the girls equally, and while this was good, it also meant that Poppy felt a little bit lost and more aware of the fact that she was younger than her two sisters who were living far more exciting lives than she was.

Realising that she didn't want to feel like a bit-part for the rest of her Saturday, Poppy had told uncle Chris that she was heading out to the stationary store to pick up supplies for school. Busy with work, he didn't seem to notice her either and simply told her to be home for dinner at six and to keep her phone on her.

She had lied to Chris. She wasn't going to Staples, Poppy wanted to visit her parents' graves. This was something she always did with the family. Since they died in June she had only been to the graveyard once and that was on her mother's birthday at the end of August. It was mid November now. Poppy pulled her coat tightly around her to protect her from the chilly breeze that was blowing through the cemetery. To her knowledge neither Lily nor Holly had been back here since Ivy's birthday.

Her parents were buried side by side in a secluded spot underneath a sycamore tree. The light from the sun was low and dull in the sky, casting pretty patterns on the fallen leaves on the well kept grass. Ivy and Wyatt were buried near Phoebe's dead children Kim, Isobel and little Violet who had died before she had reached her fifth birthday.

'Hey Mom' Poppy said softly, sitting down on the floor in front of Ivy's grave.

She took a moment to take in the fact that she was here and her mom was in the ground a few feet below her. It felt so odd.

'Lily and Holly say hi. They're going out tonight together. Freddy Whitepath's taking them to _Dawsons_. I think he might be into Lily, how cool is that? Holly and Danny broke up a few months ago. She's into Owen East which is beyond weird. They're pretty excited to be going out. Holly passed driver's ed and Chris found that cheque so she's really happy. Thanks I guess, she can't wait to get on the road. I hope she drives us to school, but who knows? Maybe she wants to have the independent thing. Lily's still tutoring. She still wants to be a doctor. Holly's not cheerleading anymore or playing soccer, I think she wants to try the swim team. Phoebe's writing a new book on teen romance. I think we sort of inspired her on that. Well, not me. I'm not exactly as…I don't know….desirable as Hol and Lil. The only boy in my life is Brice, and you know how that is. Chris is working, like, all the time. He really misses you guys.'

Poppy took a deep, steadying breath. She hadn't realised how hard it would be to talk about how _she _felt.

'_I _really miss you guys too.' Poppy said, feeling as if her heart were suddenly made of lead. 'I can't remember your voice, Mom. I can't remember how you used to smile. I wish I could talk to you.'

She closed her eyes and as she opened them again she caught sight of movement in the corner of her eye.

Poppy shot up from the floor, hackles rising, feeling increasingly uncomfortable in that someone had interrupted her private moment. Poppy was beginning to get freaked out as she continued to try and discover the source of the movement when Cal Whitepath came out from behind a nearby tree.

'Cal?' Poppy could not have been more shocked, or embarrassed. Had he heard what she had been saying? 'What are you doing here?'

'I…' He looked awkward, 'I'm just on my way back from Jon's. I always cut through the cemetery. It's shorter than going through the side streets.'

'Oh.'

If there was a number of people Poppy didn't want to see her here, Cal was at the top of the list. Callous, banal, idiotic and insensitive, Cal didn't know the meaning of grief or profound emotion.

'Are you…' Cal said hesitantly. 'Are you, um, all right?'

Poppy tried to hide her surprise and mounting suspicion. Why was he still here talking to her? He normally made sure he avoided any situation in which he would have to interact with her.

'I guess.' Poppy shrugged.

'Do you, er, come here a lot?' He ran a hand through his short glossy hair.

Why was he asking her this?

'No…I haven't been here since August.' She stammered. She couldn't remember the last time she and Cal had had a conversation, let alone one as intense as this one.

'You didn't bring them anything?' Cal asked.

'What do you mean?'

'You know, flowers or something.'

Poppy felt horrified and disgusted with herself. She hadn't visited in nearly 3 months and she had forgotten to bring something to lay on her parents graves. What kind of daughter was she?

'No, I…I forgot,' Poppy sniffed, 'I'm not used to going to cemeteries, I don't know the protocol or-'

'Oh no,' Cal said in a rush, eyes wide with apology, noticing the hurt on her face, 'I didn't mean to make you feel bad.'

Cal and Poppy stood there looking at each other awkwardly for a few moments.

'I have an idea,' Cal said, and before she knew what he was doing he had crouched down beneath the tree next to him and pulled up some pretty yellow flowers with his hands.

'Is that allowed?' Poppy asked anxiously.

Cal shot her a incredulous look as he came over to her.

'Who cares?' He asked, but there was a surprising kindness in his face. 'Here. I know it's a bit girly for your Dad but…'

'Thanks,' Poppy took the flowers and divided them, then placed them at the foot of her Mom and Dad's gravestones.  
>As she stood back up again and moved to where she was standing before Cal put a hand on her shoulder and gave it a slight reassuring squeeze.<p>

'They're much nicer than the fancy ones you can buy anyway. I reckon your Mom will like them.'

Poppy looked up at him in amazement.

'I liked your Mom,' He continued, 'She didn't pressurise you and your sisters to be anything or do anything you didn't want to do. My Mom…' As if realising he was saying too much, Cal's face suddenly closed down and hardened.

'Cal, I-'

'I have to go,' Cal began to walk away, turning his back, 'I have to finish some stupid assignment for French.'

'OK.' Poppy said falteringly, feeling at a loss from both the unexpected softness Cal had just displayed and the abrupt change to coldness.

She watched his back as he walked away for a few more moments.

'Boys,' Poppy sighed, more to herself than anyone else. 'Do they ever get any less weirder?'

* * *

><p>'I give up.' Brice groaned, stretching his arms above his head and laying back on the floor. 'If we don't know this stuff now, we'll never know it.'<p>

It was nine thirty pm. He and Poppy were sitting on the floor of his bedroom continuing their Biology project. They had drawn diagrams for the nitrogen cycle and were trying to memorise more formulae, testing each other on both knowledge and spelling. They had been at it for nearly four hours, going over both class work and the text book.

'Yeah,' Poppy agreed, yawning. 'Let's take a break.'

She leant back against his bed and stretched her legs out in front of her, relieving the pins and needles that had formed from sitting cross legged for the last three quarters of an hour.

Focussing on school work had been good for Poppy. Distracted by the pressure of the looming test on Monday morning, she and Brice hadn't had any time to talk about Freddy, Lily and Holly and their big dates tonight. She was extremely grateful Brice hadn't mentioned anything. It had been awkward enough having to listen to Holly and Lily talk about dating, to have her best friend do it too would have been pure torture.

Poppy looked at Brice as he lay there with his eyes closed on the floor in front of her. How would she feel if Brice was into someone? What would it do to their friendship? Brice never mentioned the fact that he liked girls, he sometimes joked at a few seniors were hot but apart from that Poppy didn't know if girls were on his radar or not. Things had been weird between them, admittedly, but their friendship had never really been under any question. Although she sometimes did feel he was drifting away from her a little bit, Poppy assumed this had more to do with being a teenage boy needing 'guy' time rather than from an aversion to her.

As if sensing she was looking at him, Brice opened one eye.

'Why are you staring at me?'

'Are you into anyone?' Before she knew it, the words were out there.

'What?' Brice furrowed his eyebrows, visibly thrown by the question.

'I don't know,' Poppy said, trying not to blush with the stupidity of it all, 'Holly and Lily…dating's all they seem to talk about at the moment. Are you…do you want to date anyone?'

Brice continued to look confused. He sat up and looked at her with both consideration and bewilderment, as if trying to figure out an answer that would please her.

'I don't think about dating all that much.' He said. 'I mean, sure, I find girls pretty and funny and smart, but you're all those things. Why would I want to date if I have you?'

Poppy didn't know how to respond to this.

'Why?' Brice carried on, looking worried now, 'Do you think about dating?'

'No,' Poppy laughed, 'All that seems to come with it is a lot of stress and drama. And spending a lot of money. We've just lost Mom and Dad, dating seems an inappropriate thing to do right now, at least for me. I'd find it weird. Knowing that Mom and Dad would never get to meet my boyfriend freaks me out.'

Brice nodded understandingly.

This was why she loved Brice so much. He understood everything she thought, sometimes even her own family didn't get her the way Brice did. There was no judgement, he always accepted her opinion the way it was, he never wanted to change her. Poppy loved how open they were with each other, even when they were little they used to just get on with things rather than fight it out over the silliest little problem.

'Caltold me that he saw you at the cemetery.' Brice said, 'Why didn't you tell me you were going? I'd have come with you.'

'He told you?' Poppy was surprised, she hadn't banked on Cal telling anyone that he'd run into her.

'Yeah, before you came over. How was it? Cal said you looked pretty sad.' Brice smiled slightly, 'bit of a dumb thing for him to say.'

'It was really hard.' Poppy told him. 'I didn't plan on it. I just got so annoyed with Holly and Lily and I guess I really wanted to talk to Mom. But when I got there I had no idea what to say. Talking to a stone isn't the same as talking to a real life person. I wish I could…you know…' She dropped her voice, 'cast a spell or something to make them appear.'

'You know it doesn't work that way.' Brice said sadly, 'We can't just magic the up dead to have a conversation with them. Mortals can't do that, why should we? I mean, I know we have powers and everything but they're not really for us, we're supposed to use them for things outside of ourselves.'

'Have you been talking to my aunt Phoebe?' Poppy grinned, 'She's _always _saying stuff like that.'

'Ha,' Brice laughed, 'No. I'm way to scared to talk to her now I know she was a Charmed One.'

'You're not to scared to talk to _me _though.' Poppy pointed out.

Brice made a face. 'Yeah but you're not eighteen yet, so you're not a Charmed One. Once you are one, you'll be far too cool to talk to me and hang out.'

'No I won't!' Poppy said hotly, 'What makes you say that? We'll always be friends Brice!'

Brice was touched by the ferocity in her voice. She was always so determined; it was the thing he loved most about her. She was a little hesitant and insecure, but Poppy always stood by her convictions, always looked out for the underdog.

'I hope so.'

'No, we will.' Poppy said firmly. 'You're the only thing that's stayed the same. This past year has been so horrible. Mom and Dad were murdered, we found we were witches, we had to move house, I had to start high-school. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't have stood by me through all that.'

'What are friends for?' said Brice casually, but Poppy couldn't help but notice the way his eyes held onto hers a little too long.

'Do you want a drink? Poppy asked, shooting up from where she's sat on the floor.

'No, I'm all right.' Brice said, disappointed the moment was gone. Brice wondered if she'd ever get the hint. At least now he understood why. From what she'd just said he knew that Poppy wasn't ready to take their friendship to the next level. He was all right with this. He could wait.

'OK. Well, do you want me to bring up some snacks while I'm down there?' She asked from the door.

He shook his head.

Poppy headed downstairs in search for chips and some juice. The Whitepath house was huge. Similar to the Halliwell manor, it had been built to fit a lot of people. Eight bedrooms managed to cater for Brice's parents, himself and his four brothers and two double guest rooms. The house was quiet without Freddy home. He normally had loads of friends over to hang out or play music or he was practising his guitar. Or so she thought. She was making her way to the end of the first landing when she heard a series of strange noises. They were coming from Cal's bedroom.

Ever curious, Poppy inched her way closer to his bedroom. The door was cracked slightly ajar. She looked inside. From what she could see, Cal was bend over his desk, but from the looks of it he wasn't doing his French homework. He was reading aloud from a massive leather bound book, much like the Book of Shadows. The strange, broken noises were his voice struggling with the contents of the spell book. Poppy realised what was going on. He was trying to read. Poppy had never seen Cal look so vulnerable, his face frustrated and angry as he clumsily tackled the words in front of him. It seemed like a mammoth effort, he was going over the same line again and again agonisingly slowly. Poppy had seen him like this a few years before, but the pain and anger on his face now was unbearable to watch.

Not wanting to be found lurking about and spying on him, Poppy took a step back. Unfortunately for her, she had stepped on an old floorboard which gave out a piercing shriek as her foot came into contact with it. Poppy sucked in her breath, her heart racing. The next thing she knew loud footsteps could be heard and a second later Cal flung open the door to his room.

'What do you want?' He bit out venomously. Fury seemed to be radiating off of him as he stood in the doorway of his room.

Poppy continued to walk backwards away from him.

'I…nothing. I'm just getting some juice.'

'You were outside my room. Were you _spying _on me?' He demanded.

'No.' But the blush that was spreading fast and furiously on her cheeks told another story and confirmed Cal's suspicion.

'You tell no one! Do you hear? No one!'

Cal seemed more concerned about the fact she had observed his dyslexia rather than him reading from a spell book.

'I wouldn't,' Poppy stammered, 'Cal, of course I-'

Cal let out a derisive snort. 'I bet you've been planning this for months! Have a good look did you?'

'No! No, Cal I-'

'What's going on?' Brice had appeared, becoming increasingly concerned as he took in a scared looking Poppy with his brother towering over her with rage.

'Did you put her up to it?' Cal rounded on Brice, eyes flashing, 'Want to have a good laugh?'

'What?' Brice was taken aback, 'What are you talking about?'

'This bitch was spying on me!'

Brice's jaw clenched.

'What did you just call her?' He demanded, voice rising to a din on par with Cal's.

'Brice…' Poppy took his arm, but he shook her off, coming toward Cal with all the daring he possessed.

'She's not a bitch! How could you even say something like that?'

'Awww, look who's all being all protective! Little Bricey coming to the rescue of his little pathetic girlfriend.'

Poppy let out a gasp as Brice's fist came out of nowhere and hit Cal square in the jaw.

Cal swayed on the spot, eyes widening with disbelief.

'Why you-'

'No!' Poppy shouted, her small frame darting around Brice and standing in between the two much bigger than Brice, she was afraid of what he would do to him.

Cal looked at Poppy with such loathing that she winced. He shook his head and stormed back into his bedroom, slamming the door.

'Are you all right?' Brice asked Poppy at once, anger towards his brother being taken over by worry, 'He wasn't…he didn't hurt you did he?'

'No, no,' Poppy dismissed, taking Brice's hand and looking at it. It was bright red, 'Are _you _OK? Seriously Brice, you shouldn't have hit him!'

'I don't know why I did,' Brice said sheepishly, 'I…I didn't like him calling you names.'

'He's called me a lot worse,' Poppy reminded him, 'Come on, we need to put some ice on your hand.'

'Yeah,' Brice whistled, 'it really hurts.'

Poppy laughed. Brice always knew how to lighten the mood.

'On the plus side, you're probably exempt from biology revision if your hand's not working.'

'Great! Movie?'

'Will you let me pick this time?'

'No! No way are we watching X-Men again! You need to get over your Wolverine obsession.'

'Shut up! Don't think I don't know about your love for Rogue!'

'What?' Brice laughed, hitting her lightly on the back as they climbed down the stairs, 'And you're not fantasising about Hugh Jackman at the same time? Gruff, aggressive guys are bad news Poppy.'

'You can talk Mr Punchy!'

'I was defending your honour. And I was injured doing it, so I'm choosing the movie!'

'Fine,' Poppy sighed, annoyed that he felt she needed to be defended but couldn't be bothered to argue with him. 'What do you want to watch?'

'Fight Club?'

Poppy let out an exasperated groan. Typical.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks again for reading. Please keep reviewing and inspiring me! Your reviews really spur me on!<em>

_Just a quick note to say that I'm going away Thursday-Saturday and am working nights 10pm-8am from Saturday - Wednesday so don't know how quickly I'll be able to post the next chapter/s up._

_I'm editing at the moment and changing a few things around, but I will say that Holly and Lily's dates aren't going to be plain sailing. No Halliwell date isn't complete with a few magical mishaps is it? Eric may have a little appearance too! Will Eric get jealous of Lily? Why does he turn up at the club? All will be revealed! What's so interesting about Owen's sister? Talking of sisters..._

_Quick question: Who is your favourite sister and why? _


	24. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

'Do I look all right?' Lily asked Holly anxiously.

They were sitting on the stairs and waiting for the boys to pick them up. It was just gone quarter to nine so they weren't late, Freddy was due to arrive at nine to drive them all downtown to the restaurant and Owen was supposed to come by a little before then.

Holly gave her sister the once over. Lily's long chestnut hair had been softly curled and pinned back, a few stands at her temples teased to frame her face. Her make-up was light, a little creamy glittery shadow on her eyelids with her long lashes dealt with by a light coat of Holly's expensive mascara and a professional looking flick of eyeliner courtesy of Holly's superior make-up application skills. The dress fitted her frame perfectly and her smooth long legs were bare. She was wearing a pair of silver wedges that matched the tarnished silver bangles on her wrists and earrings and nail polish.

'You look amazing Lils.' Holly squeezed her sister's shoulder, 'Don't worry.'

Holly looked absolutely fabulous in her dress, with her suede electric blue platforms and her dark hair slicked back into a sleek high pony-tail, her make-up dark and dramatic and making her eyes look as electric as the color of her shoes. As always, she wore her father's wedding ring on a silver chain around her neck. Holly looked at herself in the mirror that was on the wall opposite them, the necklace catching the low light. Instead of making her feel sad she felt as if it was a talisman, providing her with her father's innate strength and monumental calm. Although Wyatt displayed Chris's famous temper in times of stress, his rational and practical nature always found a way to trump any irritability.

Although she didn't look it Holly was extremely nervous. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt nervous about going on a date before. Dating was one of the things Holly was good at. With an inherent flirtatious repertoire at her disposal she always knew what to say to the guys she went out with and she always knew what pushed their buttons; a bit of leg exposed here, a bit of chest exposed there.

Holly had never been a shy date. In freshman year, way before she had been with Danny, she had dated Nic, a senior with an amazing set of cheek bones that would put Robert Pattinson to shame. They used to get drunk together and make out in his car, a thrill that Holly soon became bored with once she discovered Nic was just a pretty rich boy with no brain cells to match his amazing good looks. And before Nic there had been Aaron, the guy who had introduced her to weed, reggae and skinny dipping.

Perhaps that was why there were so many butterflies; Owen wasn't like the guys she had been with before. He wasn't into looks, and although Holly had made an effort tonight she knew that Owen was more concerned with what she thoughtand what she did than what went on on the outside. Her usual dating technique would be useless, not that Holly wanted to binge drink, smoke weed or skinny dip with Owen any way. Now that she thought of it, Holly had never been on an 'official' date that involved a meal or classical elements of romance or courtship such as butterflies, sweaty palms and waiting for the phone to ring. Danny just used to take her to after-game parties or his parents summer house at their vineyard. While that had been fun she had always felt an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach with wondering if she wanted more than casual hook-ups in his parents luxurious country home suite. She had always felt slightly dirty with Danny, he had only used to call her to hook up, something she hadn't really properly realised when they were together. What with Freddy acting so gentlemanly towards her sister, Holly was beginning to realise that there was more to relationships than inebriation and thrills followed by volumes of guilt and shame.

Her family didn't know the extent of her casual dating past. They thought that Danny was her only boyfriend rather than the latest in a long line of losers that had used her and experimented with, and had no idea that Holly had lost her virginity in a one night stand with one of Alexi's cousins, who were over visiting the family from Sweden, when she was thirteen. Uncle Chris was the only one who seemed to have some sort of inkling about her dating history, but that was more to do with seeing a similar temperament in Holly that he had possessed when he was younger. Perhaps that was why Holly and Chris didn't get on so well, they saw too much of themselves in each other and constantly rubbed each other up the wrong way.

Just as she was beginning to let her mind wander to lightly fantasise what Owen would be like as a boyfriend the doorbell rang, interrupting her thoughts and making her throat suddenly go dry.

'He's here!'

Holly grabbed her sister's hand, her nails digging into her palm.

'Ow!' Lily yelped, shooting Holly a _what's the matter with you _glare, 'OK, OK!'

'Sorry!' Holly let go of her at once, wincing.

'Come on,' Lily said, shaking her head, more amused at Holly's edginess than she should be, 'Let's not leave the poor guy out there waiting on his own. I bet he's more nervous than you are!'

Lily bounded down the stairs and Holly trailed behind her. Her legs felt like lead, they didn't seem to want to work. Her heart was pumping loudly in her ears and her palms were sticky. Oh God, Holly thought, get a hold of yourself!

Lily gave Holly an enthusiastic thumbs up and stood back to allow Holly the chance to open the door. Chris, Phoebe and Coop had strategically made themselves scarce for the evening by going out for dinner at one of their favourite restaurant's _Quake._

Holly wished that Lily could at least look a little bit apprehensive, her grin was really unsettling. She took a deep breath, plastered what felt like an awfully fake smile on her face and wrenched the door open.

'Hey,' Owen croaked, eyes widening as he took in Holly before him.

Wow, he thought, I'm glad I wore a shirt. Holly looks absolutely stunning.

Owen wore a thinly striped green and white shirt, dark charcoal grey chinos and white Jack Purcells. The shirt made his eyes look even greener behind his thick tortoiseshell glasses. Lily silently applauded the confident stance in his shoulders. If _he _was nervous, he didn't look it.

'Hey,' Holly said on auto-pilot, coming forward and kissing him on the cheek. 'You look nice!'

'You look…you…look incredible.' Damn, Owen cursed, I should've said she looks nice first.

Holly's heart skipped a beat as one of his hands gently grazed her hip as she leant in to kiss him on the cheek.

Wow, he smells good.

As if knowing her sister was having trouble forming cohesive thoughts, Lily stepped in.

'Hey Owen,' Lily smiled, 'How are you doing?'

'Fine thanks.' He had a killer smile, Lily had to give him that. Friendly and without arrogance. 'Lily, isn't it?'

'Yeah, it's really nice to meet you.'

Holly gestured for him to come into the threshold and closed the door behind him.

'You have a lovely house.' Owen commented as he looked around the hallway with interest. 'I love houses that have stayed with families for generations, they have a lot more personality than those new uniform condos that seem to be springing up everywhere.'

'Thanks,' Holly said, the nervous flush on her cheeks still visible, 'It took us a while to get used to living here because it's much bigger than where we used to live. It's a squeeze with Eric here too but he's hardly ever here so it's manageable. His dog, on the other hand, gets under your feet everywhere you go.'

At that, Sheba came trotting into the hallway and immediately came towards Owen to sniff his trousers.

'I see what you mean!' Owen laughed, scratching the German Shepherd behind the ears.

Way to go Sheba! Holly thought as the dog continued to weave her way around Owen's legs. Even though the dog was a pain she was a great way to break the ice.

'Sheba!' Lily scolded as she reared on her hind legs and placed her paws on Owen's chest. 'Sorry, Owen!'

She grabbed Sheba's collar and pulled her away.

'Are you looking forward to tonight?' Lily asked before she realised that it was a silly thing to say to someone who was just about to go on a date in front of the very person they were going _on _the date.

'Definitely.' Owen replied. 'I've always wanted to check out this club. My sister went there all the time before she left to go to Berkeley. I think she dated one of the bartenders, but it was hard to keep up with her. She seemed to date a new guy every week. Jane's a bit of a man-eater.'

'Ah cool,' Lily said hurriedly, aware that Holly had colored at his 'man-eater' comment, 'So, um, what does she study at Berkeley?'

'Film.' Owen said with an embarrassed sort of smile, 'She wants to be the next Roger Ebert. I think that's why I'm so into it. She's always watching foreign movies for class so I basically had no choice in the matter. It was either _Jamon, Jamon _or no TV at all.'

'I know the feeling.' Holly said with passion, rolling her eyes. 'In our house it's either a medical documentary or dating show.'

'That's right, your great aunt's _Ask Phoebe _isn't she? My Mom loves her column.'

Lily smiled as they continued to talk. She could tell immediately that Owen was into her sister. His warm, engaged smile, the way he really looked into her face as she spoke and the way his body tilted towards hers all hinted that he was happy to be around her. He kept asking her questions too, which was a good sign, nothing like Scott-_me, me me-_Lopez. Lily liked Owen. She was a bit apprehensive about hanging out with him tonight since she knew that he used to bully Holly, but he seemed like a really nice guy from what she was seeing now. What Lily liked most about him was that he didn't seem to take any of Holly's shit, whenever Holly looked as if she was about to moan about something or make a derogatory comment, Owen would cut her off sharply and raise an eyebrow which would quickly put her back in her place again. They looked like a great pair. Lily hoped things would go well for them tonight. It was about time Holly was with someone who really cared about her and could match her on an intellectual level.

* * *

><p>'So, how did you get into tutoring?' Freddy asked as he poured Lily some water.<p>

They were at the restaurant. It had a low-key, stylish vibe; lots of creams and browns with expensive fashionable wallpaper plastered on the walls with funky lightshades and magenta and lime splashed in here and there. They were seated towards the back of the room and the place was already filled with people. An eclectic set of music from _Dawsons _was being streamed into the restaurant; a mix of moody Swedish alternative indie with soft, romantic Brazilian electro. Lily felt as if she was on holiday, a warm glow touched her skin which made her cheeks flush and the cool non-alcoholic pineapple based cocktail was just the thing to set the night alive. Lily couldn't remember when she had felt this good before.

Freddy certainly helped that dreamy feeling. He was the perfect date. Attentive, funny and considerate, there hadn't been an awkward moment yet. He had picked up Lily, Holly and Owen slightly before nine arriving in a casual navy buttonless blazer, bright-white t-shirt with an arthouse insignia that Lily didn't recognise, beige chinos and his favourite pair of Adidas. His eyes had lit up when Lily opened the door to greet him and the goosebumps that had sprung up on her skin the moment his lips kissed her on the cheek hadn't gone yet gone away.

'I'm not quite sure.' Lily said, 'I think it must have been from my own experience from being tutored myself. I've always been quite weak in English and when I was in middle school I had an absolutely awesome tutor who helped me raise my GPA. Although I've always done well at school, I think without him I wouldn't have got into Drew.'

'So you wanted to give back what you got?' Freddy asked.

'I think so, yeah. I mean, I'm hopeless at sport, really uncoordinated, so tutoring sort of found me and gave me something to really put myself into. I was helping a fellow classman out in chemistry in freshman year and it gave me such a buzz that I volunteered at the tutor center. I became president at the beginning of the semester.'

'Wow, I'm impressed,' Freddy beamed, 'That's quite something for a junior.'

It was true what all the girls said; he did have an amazing smile. Lily didn't know what blew her away more, the fact that she had made Freddy smile or the feeling that she got receiving it.

'You like sport though, right? You seem to win a lot of awards for it.'

'Yeah,' Freddy admitted with sincerity, 'I play tennis and I'm keen on running. I love track and cross country. Nothing compares to a run on the beach at sunrise, so beautiful. Especially in San Francisco.'

Lily raised a flirtatious eyebrow. 'Are you running away from something?'

Freddy let out a laugh, eyes sparkling.

'I just like running. It helps me give me the courage to go for girls who are out of my league.'

It took Lily a while to realise he was talking about her.

'Gosh,' Lily blushed crimson, 'You can't mean that.'

'Of course I do. Contrary to popular belief, I'm not a serial dater, I mean, I've only been with two girls. I'll only go out with people who I really feel something for.'

'Wayyyy to increase the pressure,' Lily said, widening her eyes and letting out a breath.

Freddy laughed again.

'Not my intention, I assure you.' He held his hands up as if to say _you got me. _

'Hmmm.' Lily said, taking the first bite of her chicken. They had been talking so much that she had forgotten her dinner. 'This is so great!'

'I know! I wish there was more of this!' Freddy, who had ordered the same, nodded in agreement. 'I'm guessing you feel the same though?' Freddy asked. 'From what I've heard from Brice, you're not one who're on the prowl for casual hook-ups.'

'The idea of that really terrifies me. I guess I've been so focussed on college that boys sort of fell by the wayside. Where have you applied?'

'I got into Dartmouth, early decision. Found out today actually.'

'Oh Freddy, that's amazing!' Lily exclaimed, 'Why didn't you say earlier?'

'Didn't seem like a gentlemanly thing to do, pick you up and say _hey, I'm Freddy, recently accepted as a Dartmouth college student. _I'm more interested in getting to know you.' Freddy said, brushing it aside. 'Where are you thinking of applying?'

'Columbia, pre-med. I've really got my heart set on it.'

'Your Dad went there didn't he?'

'How did you know that?' Lily asked, amazed.

'Well, you know how it is. You wouldn't want to go into an exam unprepared, I had to get some info off Brice to make sure I was in for a chance of getting at least past the first question with you.'

Looks, modesty and humour to boot? Freddy was getting better and better by the minute.

'Ha, I guess so,' Lily laughed, 'Tell me about your music. I loved your band when I heard you play before. You played loads of my favourite songs.'

'Well, I guess it's like you and tutoring, it sort of came to me. The first time I picked up a guitar it sort of felt right, you know? Music's something I seem to get, I love mixing up sounds and trying new things. I'm so lucky to get this gig as I haven't been Djing that long. It's so great that the guys came to support.'

'You must be really close to your band mates,' Lily said, nodding over to a table two rows over from theirs where Red, P.J and Gabe and a few fellow senior girls were sat drinking cocktails and eating appetizers.

'They're great guys,' Freddy nodded. 'When I told them you, Holly and Owen were coming tonight they couldn't stop teasing me about how much of a lucky guy I was, once in a lifetime set at _Dawsons _and a date with a girl I'd been crushing on for ages. They said they'd like to get drinks upstairs later with us, is that all right?'

'Of course!' Lily smiled and falling silent, paying attention to finishing her dinner. Freddy had been crushing on her? He was so unlike any guy she had known before. No one admits that on a first date. Lily admired Freddy's quiet confidence, he seemed so at ease with himself. It was so nice to hang out with someone that wasn't insecure, who was easily coerced into doing things he didn't want to do through peer pressure, Freddy was very much his own man. He sort of reminded her of her uncle Chris in a way. Minus the anger, inner turmoil and pain, Freddy was very similar to uncle Chris in the way that he wasn't afraid to go after what he wanted and to speak his mind.

'Has Owen known Holly for long?' Freddy asked, snapping Lily out of her daydream. 'I've never seen him at parties before.'

'No, you wouldn't have. They're not really his scene.' Lily shook her head. They were sat a few tables away from her sister and her date. Things seemed to be going well for them, there was a lot of laughter coming from their table whether from sharing the same joke or laughing at each other, she couldn't tell. 'Owen's a bit of a loner, really smart but not into the crowd thing. They've known each other for a while though.'

'He seems like a cool guy.' Freddy continued to look over to where Holly and Owen were digging into the same chocolate desert, Owen had just taken his spoon and smeared chocolate on Holly's nose

'He's got that in common with someone else in here.' Lily said boldly, Freddy's confidence obviously rubbing off on her.

Freddy locked eyes with Lily and smiled. Oh, be still my heart, Lily told herself as her heart began to pound. Steady on girl, you haven't even got to desert yet and you're already falling for him.

* * *

><p><em>SO SO SO sorry this has taken so long to get up! Wanted this chapter to be longer but the next one has so much in it I didn't want to overload you all at once! Thanks for sticking with the story, I don't know if you all saw my question in the last chapter. Who is your favourite sister and why? Please review, your thoughts are so important to me! <em>


	25. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

'Well, I have to say Freddy struck gold with you, you're definitely one to keep!' Red told Lily, taking her hand and kissing the back of her palm, old school style.

'Ignore him,' P.J's girlfriend Darcy told her, rolling her eyes. 'Although, not about the gold part. You're a lot nicer than his last girlfriend. Eva was so quiet, having a conversation with her was like drawing blood from a stone. It's nice you have a personality.'

'I'm not his girlfriend.' Lily stammered, in awe of these confident, loud people that were jockeying for her attention. Wow, being Freddy must be hard work. He had to go to school amidst the demands of popularity, band and music commitments, his role as student president _and _star athlete? He must live a harder life than she had originally considered.

'You soon will be I bet,' Red winked at her, 'He's not going to want to lose you, I can guarantee. He hasn't stopped talking about you.'

'Give my sister a break!' Holly interrupted, placing the drinks she had just got them all from the bar down on their table.

Lily, Holly, Owen, Red, P.J., Darcy, Gabe and Gabe's girlfriend Tia were all sharing a booth on the third floor of _Dawsons_. They had got in without a hitch, although they all had to have their hands stamped to show that they were underage and by no means allowed to be within two feet of alcohol. This suited Lily fine. She became a hazy mess with one small glass of wine at dinner, she did not need alcohol mugging up her first date with Freddy. Freddy had gone to the bathroom, which gave his friends an opportunity to voice how Freddy really felt about her to Lily.

Holly squeezed past Tia to sit on the other side of Lily. Owen was chatting amiably with Gabe about _Mad Men_, but shot Holly an appreciative look for the virgin Margarita she had just slid across the table in his direction.

'Is anyone up for dancing soon?' Holly asked, looking around the room excitedly, which was full of people dancing energetically to a mix of _Hot Chip _and _James Brown. _

The room was open plan, dotted with booths on one side of the wall which faced a floor length glass wall leading onto a garden terrace. The stairs were hidden in the corner of the room, glass as well, which led to the main room on the first floor, where Freddy would be DJing in half an hour. It was dark, sparse, but warming, lots of oranges and yellows danced across the walls from the lights up here, making a change from the main room which was black set off against icy green and blue.

'Definitely!' Tia piped up enthusiastically. Small, curvy, with a mane of straight black hair and Indian colouring with bright blue eyes, Tia was a stunner. She had been really friendly to both Holly and Lily, making sure they were always included in the conversation and asking them questions to make them feel part of the group, 'Darce?'

Darcy was more intimidating. Icy blonde, statuesque, with striking model features and dark brown eyes, she was a tough cookie to suss out. But two hours in, Lily felt herself warming to her. Darcy hadn't left P.J's side, letting the girls know he was her property, but once she had realised Lily and Holly were into their own dates, she had relaxed, let her guard down and started to speak to the Marstons.

'Hmm. Maybe.' Darcy said distractedly, narrowing her eyes at PJ who was looking across the floor at a group of girls who were wearing short mini-dresses alike the ones Lily and Holly had dismissed on the shopping trip for being 'too slutty'.

'Miss me?' Freddy asked, joining the group again. Tia scooched up to allow Freddy a seat next to Lily.

'Absolutely.' Lily murmured in undertone, shooting him a shy smile. Freddy smiled back and gently placed his warm large hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. After Freddy and Owen had paid for dinner, Freddy had taken Lily's hand as they walked into the club as if it was the most natural thing in the world. He hadn't stopped holding it all night, gently tracing circles in her palm and sitting closely next to her but not too close as to be pervy. Lily felt so wanted and protected by him and so safe, it was thrilling to feel like that in a room full of strangers. He had given her the strength to be herself when he introduced her to all of his friends, providing her a share of his confidence and ease.

'I got you a ginger beer.' Holly told him, unaware of the moment that had passed between him and her sister.

'Aw, thanks Hol. Next one's on me.'

'Don't worry,' Lily smirked, 'Holly can buy all the drinks tonight. She's just got a load of cash to buy a car because she just passed her test.'

'Wow!'

'Well done!'

'Was that your first time?'

'Yeah.' Holly said, eyes widening at the onslaught of praise, 'Although considering the prices here I think one round of drinks is likely to cost more than a car!'

Everybody laughed. Each of them had spent at least $40 since they had walked in through the door. The prices were crazy, but the crowd, insane sound system (you could hear the music _and _your conversation so clearly it was definitely the best place Holly had been to for decent acoustics) and company more than made up for it.

Lily could tell Freddy was getting more nervous as time approached the beginning of his set. His knee was bouncing nervously and he kept looking around the room, undoubtedly to distract his mind from his upcoming arrangement.

Lily squeezed his jumping knee.

'Hey,' She said in undertone, leaning closer so no one else could hear. 'You'll be fine. I know it.'

Freddy jumped slightly, as if he wasn't expecting her to say something.

'Sorry.' He said embarrassedly. 'I must be driving you nuts.'

'It's understandable. I'd probably be crying in a corner, you seem to be holding up pretty well in comparison.'

'I'm glad you're here.'

'I'm glad you invited me.'

Freddy leant in and kissed her on the cheek again.

'Woooo!' Red exclaimed, his status as resident joker confirmed. 'Love is in the air.'

'Shut up Red.' Holly said at once, socking him in the arm.

'It's good you're here to put him in his place, Holly.' Gabe said, surprising everyone. Gabe was the quiet, mysterious one that rarely spoke.

'I'm quite good at that, had a lot of practise with my annoying little sister Poppy.'

'Aww, Poppy's a sweetie! Don't be mean about my second favourite Marston!'

'Second favourite?' Holly said, pretending to look wounded, 'That means I'm your third favourite. I'm hurt Freddy, all those times we danced to Disco Inferno? I feel betrayed.'

She faked wiping a tear and everyone guffawed with laughter. Even Darcy cracked a smile.

'Apologies, Holly. In the name of Disco Inferno, I shall dedicate my first track to you.' Freddy told her, reaching out to shake her hand.

Thrilled, Holly shook it back.

'Talking of tracks, we'd better start making them downstairs. You're on in ten, bro.' P.J. reminded Freddy after glancing at his Rolex.

'Oh yeah,'

Everyone stood up, gathering various bags and draining the last of their drinks.

'Are you all right?' Owen asked Holly. 'Sorry I couldn't chat to you much, Gabe used to date my sister Jane. We were just catching up.'

'Really?' Holly asked playfully, 'Is that before or after the bartender?'

Owen laughed, putting his arm around Holly's shoulders.

'You're as funny as Red likes to think he is,'

'Thanks…I think. I need to go to the bathroom, meet you in a sec?'

'Yeah, I'll get us some more drinks. Another Cranberry Fizz?'

'OK. Yeah thanks, that would be lovely. Anything to save my car fund.' Holly rolled her eyes dramatically, and Owen saluted as he headed over to the crowded bar.

'Hey!' It was Lily, she had detached herself from Freddy.

'Hey you.' Holly smirked.

'What's the look for?'

'_Someone's_ having a good time.'

'I think we're _all _having a good time. I had no idea Freddy's friends were so nice.'

'Yeah they're sort of a package deal, good thing they like you!'

'I guess,' Lily shrugged, 'Look, I'll meet you downstairs. Want to wish Freddy luck.'

'I bet you do!' Holly winked, wiggling her eyebrows.

Lily scowled in disapproval and headed downstairs.

'Lil!' Lily turned around to see Owen making his way over to her, 'Going to try the bar in the main room. This one's completely rammed.' 'Good idea.' Lily agreed as they both descended the stairs.

'The sound systems unbelievable here! Who knew you could actually hear each other speak in a club?'

'I think the speakers are under our feet.'

'Really? That's impressive. No wonder Jane was here all the time, anything out of the ordinary, she was on it.'

'Sounds like you guys are close.'

'Yeah, we are.' Owen said, smiling. 'She used to look out for me. Helped me a lot when I was younger. I was a real weedy kid who used to get picked on by older kids. It left me with a bad attitude. I'm sure Holly's told you.' He added embarrassedly.

'She might have mentioned something.' Lily said lightly, 'Nothing she's held onto though. Holly's not really one to stick with something unless it's worthwhile. Probably why she isn't hanging around with poisonous Alexi anymore.'

'I hope I can show her I'm worthwhile.' Owen said quietly, revealing something he had not let himself admit before.

'I'm sure she already knows.' Lily told him kindly, grasping his shoulder lightly.

'Ah this queue's much better!' Owen exclaimed once they reached the main room, 'Do you want a drink?'

'Oh no thanks,' Lily said, looking over where Freddy was prepping behind the DJing equipment that was set up on raised dais in the middle of the room. Already there were a lot of people surrounding it, eager for some new sounds and fresh mixes.

'All right,' Owen said, noticing a space next to where Red, P.J. and Gabe were already queuing. 'See you guys in a minute.'

Touching her shoulder briefly in goodbye, he headed over to Freddy's friends whilst Lily made her way over to Freddy to wish him luck.

As she made her way through the crowd, she was aware that she felt a lot hotter down here. Was the air conditioning not working? Lily felt a sheen of sweat suddenly cover her body, her head feeling a little foggy. Going over to the nearest wall, Lily reached it just in time. The next thing she knew everything had gone fuzzy, and she was slumping against the trendy black embossed wallpaper.

_All that came were shapes at first. A jumble of images, white, blue, green. Smoke. The air around her was stuffy, claustrophobic. She felt as if she was humming, something was pounding in her chest. Music? Lily strained to find sense in the images she was seeing. Then some familiar faces made her comprehend. She in main room at _Dawsons_ and whoever she was following had just passed P.J., Gabe and Red and the girls who were stood by the bar. Lily couldn't get a solid look at the figure she was following, it was as if something had programmed her to trail behind someone. Her mark was weaving in and out of the crowd effortlessly, looking for something. They were focused and precise, which made Lily sure that they were looking for someone. They had just reaching the doors to what looked like the main room garden terrace _

_when the figure sprang into motion – object of desire found. Lily saw the figure; a tall bald man with a tattoo of a circle on the back of his neck, reach into his pocket and bring out a large double edged knife, grab a boy with glasses and a green shirt and slice straight across his throat. Lily tried to scream but no sound came out. The boy in the shirt fell sideways into the crowd, the glasses he was holding falling from his hands, the contents splashing on the floor, clasping his neck, blood flowing from underneath his hands. The crowd around them were yelling whilst the figure had withdrawn a glass vial, capturing the flowing blood. When the vial was full, he turned toward Lily, but he looked straight through her as if he could not see her. She caught his face; heavy eyebrows, deep-set black eyes, blank, expressionless, human yet also demonic. A second later, he had vanished in a swirl of inky black smoke. _

Like with her other visions it took a while for Lily to regain a sense of the room. Yet unlike the others, she came out of this vision with a sense of inherent duty and purpose rising within had never seen anything like that before, where she had really sensed danger and fear for someone else. It felt more real, less dream-like, more immediate. She was seeing something that was _about _to happen. Not something that had occurred months or years ago. She had just had a premonition. Her first one. With a jolt she realised who the boy in the green striped shirt was – Owen. And it looked as if he was her first innocent.

Holly was washing her hands when her phone chirped. She looked the caller ID – Lily. With a smile, expecting Lily to still be gushing about the newest nice thing Freddy had said or done, texts she had been receiving all night due to lack of opportunity to talk, she opened the message.

HOLLY, WHERE ARE YOU? I'VE JUST HAD A PREMONITION. SOMETHING'S  
>ABOUT TO ATTACK OWEN. I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND YOU BUT I CAN'T<br>SEE YOU ANYWHERE. JUST SAW SOMETHING GRAB OWEN  
>AND SLICE HIS THROAT. I'M NOT SURE WHAT IT WAS. ARE YOU WITH HIM?<br>WE'RE IN THE MAIN ROOM!

Holly felt her blood turn cold as she read the text. Before she went to the bathroom Owen told her he would get them drinks. With a flash she was out of the girls room, dashing as fast as she could through the crowd, craning through the faces to try and spot Owen. There was a bar on this level but it was packed. Owen wasn't here, he must have gone back downstairs to beat the queue.

ON THIRD FLOOR. OWEN IS NOT HERE. WILL BE WITH YOU ASAP! FIND HIM!

Feeling the horror rising, Holly broke out into a run as she hurried down the stairs. This cannot be happening. Holly couldn't believe this, fury fighting with panic. Was this what life was going to be like now? Was magic really going to be everywhere in her life? What she would give for magic not to ruin just one day of it. She hit the next floor, turned left to go down the next flight of stairs and ran smack bang into someone.

'Get out of my way!' She hissed, looking up to glare at the person who had blocked her path.

It was Eric.

'Eric?'

'Holly?'

Both of them looked as shocked as each other.

'What are you doing here?' Eric asked.

'What do you mean what am I doing here? What are _you _doing here?'

'I'm looking for someone.'

'At _Dawsons_?' Holly asked with incredulity. This wasn't somewhere Eric was likely to go to hang out. 'Who? That bimbo you were with earlier?'

'Look, Holly,' He wasn't looking at her anymore, he was scanning the crowd above her head expertly, 'I can't talk right now. I'm working and I'm in a hurry. Darlene told me it's going to happen soon-'

'_Darlene _told –'

'Darlene's a seer,' Eric said impatiently. 'We have a mutual understanding. I give her what she needs, she gives me information about an incoming attack. That's why I'm here. She told me that some virgin was about to get sacrificed.

'_What?_'

'Don't worry, it happens all the time.' Eric said casually, 'These warlocks just courier the blood to the bigger fish. We need to get to the innocent before the demon gains strength from the blood and does something more horrific.'

'I know who he is. The innocent. Lily had a premonition.'

'A premonition?' Eric looked confused, 'No, that can't be right. Her premonitions won't happen until the Charmed status gets reactivated once you're all eighteen. She can't have a premonition. It's impossible.'

'Eric, I'm sure!' Holly exclaimed, then thrust her phone in his face, 'Look at this if you don't believe me.'

Eric's eyes scanned the screen, eyebrows raising. 'Owen? Who's Owen?'

'Owen,' Holly said through gritted teeth, 'Is my date.'

* * *

><p><em>Did you see that coming? Love to all my reviewers, special thanks to hollyxsuicide for always being such a super prompt and an amazing reviewer. <em>


	26. Chapter 26

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX**

'Wait, does this mean that Lily is here with you too?'

'Uh, yeah!' Holly raised her eyebrows in impatience, 'You knew we were coming here tonight. We've been talking about it all week.'

'Holly, no offence, but girl talk tends to go over my head.'

'You don't say.'

'We need to find Lily.' Without waiting for a reply Eric was off, descending down the final staircase that led to the main room, determined to find and protect Lily. This type of warlocks, the Carriers, went after any virginal blood they could get their hands on. Holly wouldn't be in any danger, but Eric knew that Lily would be on the warlock's hit list for sure and he was not going to let anything lay a finger on her.

'We need to find _Owen_.' Holly rebutted, glaring at the back of Eric's trademark black leather jacket as she struggled to keep up with his long strides.

Freddy's set had just begun. It could not be worse timing. Every soul that was in _Dawsons_ was dancing on the first floor indicating that Freddy's choice of music clearly going down well with the hip crowd. Eric swore, but it could not be heard over the bass line and whoops, cheers and claps of the multitude of clubbers. It would be impossible to find Lily, Owen _and _the warlock in this. They needed another plan.

Eric span around so quickly that Holly went straight into him.

'Eric!'

'Text Lily,' Eric told her at once as Holly rubbed her head, which had collided with Eric's elbow. 'Tell her we're by the stairs. We need to know what this Carrier looks like.'

'Carrier?' Holly looked confused.

'Warlock! What this type of warlock looks like!' Eric felt as if he was talking to a three year old, something that was not improving his mood.

'All right, all right!' Holly flustered under the intensity of Eric's scowl. What was he getting all hoity toity for? It was _her _date that was in danger.

Holly had just got out her phone when someone clasped her arm.

'There you are!' It was Lily. She looked terrible; her face was deathly pale and her hair was stuck against her sweaty temple.

'Lil!' Holly cried, seizing her arms. 'Have you found Owen?

'No!' Lily's face looked as panicked as Holly was feeling inside. 'And I can't get anywhere near the other side of the bar, that's where I saw it happen in the vision.'

'What did the warlock look like?' Eric shoe-horned his way into the conversation, moving around the throng of dancers that were near them to stand closer to Lily.

'Eric.' Lily's dark eyes widened in surprise and confusion. 'What…what are you doing here?'

'_Darl _told him about the attack on Owen.' Holly put in before Eric had a chance to open his mouth.

'Darlene?' Lily looked even more confused, 'Is she here as well?'

'No she is not.' Eric snapped. 'Now, tell me what the warlock looks like, we're running out of time.'

'Um…' Lily cast her mind back to the premonition. It was hard conjuring up an exact picture of him, the vision had been so impressionistic. 'Looked a bit like a Neanderthal. Very heavy set eyes, dark bushy eyebrows, shaved head. Ordinary dark clothing, wearing a dark jacket, that's where he got the knife from. Oh! He had a tattoo on the back of his neck, a thick black outline of a circle.'

Eric looked alarmed at this last piece of information.

'What is it?' Holly asked hurriedly, reading his expression.

'I had no idea the Circumference had Carriers in their employ. This is new. High-up in the demon echelon.'

'Will you stop with the demon lexicon?' Holly growled. 'What has this got to do with Owen?'

'Virgin blood is pure. A lot like unicorn blood, fairy blood or a babies blood. Pure blood has a lot of uses. It's an important ingredient to any demonic potion or spell, but it's mostly usually used in a tonic to make demons stronger or invincible to attack. Provides them with a shield against vanquishing potions, meaning they can't be killed. This can't be an isolated case. If the Circumference have branded Carriers, something huge is going on. Virgin killings have probably been occurring throughout the city for a while now. I can't believe I had no idea about it before.' Eric looked furious, either with himself or the situation the girls couldn't tell.

'Oh my Gosh.' Lily gasped, horrified with it all. 'We really need to find Owen.'

'There's no way we can get through this.' Holly gestured hopelessly to the crowd in front of them.

'We're going to have to.' Eric said grimly. 'Right, here's what we're going to do. Lily and I will look for your friend. You will go up to the third floor, maybe the terrace, it should be quiet by now. Lessens the chance of innocent casualties as it looks as if everyone's down here. When we find Owen, we'll knock him out-'

'You'll _what-_'

'It's the only way. Saves explaining the whole witch/demon/magical world thing. Done it millions of times before. Lily will text you, you'll summon him. I'll shimmer with Lily up there, and the warlock _should _appear.'

'How do you know for sure?' Lily asked. It all sounded a bit risky. So many things could go wrong. What if anyone saw them? They would be exposed. It was one thing to be caught harming someone else by knocking them out, it was another thing entirely if someone saw them all disappear in thin air. Freddy would never talk to her again.

'Once someone's been marked, that's it. Carriers have to complete the deal or they'll be killed themselves in penance.'

Holly and Lily looked at him blankly.

'Why are you still standing there?' Eric shouted at Holly, finally losing his rag at her incompetence. 'Go!'

Jumping slightly from the tone of his voice, Holly span on her heel and ran back up the stairs.

'Why am I staying with you?' Lily asked, as she awkwardly began to follow Eric through the crowd.

Eric didn't answer her.

'Eric.' Lily persisted, a little firmer this time. 'Why are you and I looking for Owen? Surely Holly-'

'You're a virgin too. I need to make sure the warlock doesn't mark you as well.'

Lily blushed furiously, mortified. How did Eric know that?

It was easier pushing through the crowd when Eric was with her. Over six feet tall, he commanded the dance floor, elbowing his way past people authoritatively and effortlessly. Lily's mind was in a spin. Why did Eric always know what to do? He always had a way of taking control of a situation, diffusing any panic and fear. He wasn't even twenty one but Eric was more grown up than half the people in here.

'There he is!' Lily exclaimed in relief, pointing in his direction. Owen was standing against the a section of the floor length window, holding two drinks, craning his neck over the heads of the crowd undoubtedly wondering where Holly had got to. He was stood next to a punk couple who were making out, arms snaked around each other, the girls tattooed leg hitched and hooked around the guy's upper thigh, which he was stroking with a fingers covered with heavy silver rings.

'OK.' Eric drew in a breath. 'Don't look.'

'But what about…' Lily wasn't sure if it was wise to continue with his plan when there were mortals standing a foot away from him.

'Don't worry. Now, don't look.'

Ignoring his instruction, Lily's gaze continued to follow him as Eric went up to Owen, grabbing an empty bottle from the bar on his way over. Before Owen could realise anything was going on, Eric's arm had swung and the bottle had hit Owen squarely on the back of the head.

Lily gasped as she watched Owen crumple to the floor, Eric's clumsy and inappropriate method clearly doing the trick in rendering Owen unconscious.

The punk couple were carrying on, having completely missed everything that had just happened.

'Get Holly to summon him upstairs!' Eric called over his shoulder to Lily, who was fumbling with her phone.

Lily's shaking fingers struggled to type so she just settled for three letters - NOW.

* * *

><p>The cold wind was whipping through Holly's ponytail as she stood waiting on the deserted terrace. Eric had been right. There wasn't a soul up there, thankfully all the people in the club were apparently more interested to see Freddy's debut than any magical showdown.<p>

She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling tense, as if there was a white-hot band of dread coiling around her insides and consuming her. What was going on down there? Why were they taking so long?

Just as Holly was about to storm back downstairs again to look herself her phone buzzed in her hand.

Holly regarded Lily's instruction, felt a swoop of relief fill the pit of her stomach and instantly closed her eyes. Apart from various family members, who participated in helping her practise her power with varying degrees of willingness and enthusiasm, she had never summoned a mortal before. Would it be the same? Similar to the way Poppy's power worked, Holly had to relax her mind in order to find Owen's presence. It was an odd art, more to do with feeling and intuition than any practised skill and lacking in patience had meant that Holly had always found summoning difficult. Holly focussed on her memory of Owen, the way she his physical presence. He was easier to sense than she'd thought, maybe due to her attraction to him. The next thing she did was imagine him next to her, the two of their presences touching. A deep twinge in her mind and the sound of a whoosh of air alerted her that it had worked.

Holly's eyes flew open to survey Owen. He was curled up at her feet, unconscious, wetness all over his trousers from where he had spilt their drinks and blood all over his forehead from where Eric had smashed the bottle on the top of his head.

'Eric!' Holly hissed, bending to her knees to wipe the blood away with her hands. It seemed to her that Eric had just wanted to bloody Owen up for his own amusement.

In what seemed like seconds, Lily and Eric appeared.

'Is he all right?' Lily asked immediately, noticing her sister knelt on the floor next to Owen.

'I guess so. He's out cold so I can't tell how much _damage _you did to him.' She shot this last part to Eric, who was pacing the perimeter of the terrace, expectant of an attack.

'Would you rather have a dead date?' Eric asked, cocking an eyebrow.

'Why didn't you guys just shimmer up?' Holly asked.

'I've only done it that one time, it's not an experience I want to repeat again any time soon. I want to remain under the radar of demons.'

'Hmm, you're definitely doing that.' Holly scoffed, 'What with killing about forty a week, yeah, real way to stay unnoticed-'

'Jesus, Holly. What thanks do I-' His angry retort, however, was cut short when he noticed a figure walk through the terrace doors and stride directly towards them.

Lily backed up into the railing, next to where Holly still crouched from tending to Owen.

Holly had to give Eric credit. He certainly knew how evil's minds worked. His plan had worked out exactly as he said it would.

'Give me the boy.' The Carrier's voice was expressionless, without intonation, matter-of-fact. He was strictly business, which was extremely chilling.

Lily had definitely had it right with the Neanderthal description. There was a slight apish quality to his dark, hooded features, and the loping gait, with his slightly hunched shoulders made him seem slightly comical. Nevertheless, the man was still terrifying. Lily shivered as she looked into his blank face and fathomless black eyes. There was no warmth or humour there, just plain…well…_evil_ was the only word for it.

'You'll have to come and get him.' Eric said, squaring his shoulders. Arrogant with his own talents, what Eric hadn't banked on was the warlock's own battle skill. The man reached inside of his jacket pocket, drawing out the same double-edged knife that Lily had seen in her vision and sprang forward. Lily leapt aside with a yelp because the next thing she knew, the man was pointing the knife in her direction and slicing it in through the air where she had been standing seconds before.

'_No_!' Eric growled, eyes flashing. He leapt forward and held out his hand, conjuring a fireball.

He threw it at the warlock but the man was too fast, he swerved and immediately came forward with the knife to attack him.

Eric looked alarmed at the warlock's tenacity, and blocked his incoming blow his elbow. Now engaged in hand to hand combat, Eric was at a disadvantage. The warlock was quick, coming at him with the knife constantly, fiercely, practised in his craft to do the utmost harm with his weapon. Eric was too busy trying to defend himself from being sliced with the knife, meaning that he had no chance to conjure a fireball.

Lily and Holly watched with increasing horror as the warlock began to wear Eric down. The warlock was so skilled that Eric was now on the floor. His martial arts skills were useless against the man, who was stronger, more agile and equipped with a weapon. The girls shrieked as the warlock's knife came under Eric's forearm and drove straight into Eric's chest.

'ERIC!' Lily screamed, making to move over towards him but Holly was faster. Blood pumping fast in her veins, instinct taking over, Holly got to her feet and pushed Lily on the floor, out of harms way. The warlock, who was squaring herself, couldn't prepare himself for what happened next. Holly's hands came forward as if to embrace the man, looking as if they were alive with sudden electricity. The warlock stepped over Eric, who was gasping in pain, but before his foot had reached the floor an electric pulse had issued from Holly's hands, which travelled through the air at a high speed. Her aim was true, the moment it came in contact with the man he seemed to implode. He blew apart and pulverised with a swirl of highly concentrated electric energy. The only thing serving as a reminder of his presence was the knife, which had fallen with a clatter to the floor.

Holly's chest was rising and falling rapidly, her breath coming quickly as if she had just ran 1000 metres. She turned to Lily, shaking.

'He's gone. Oh my God.' Holly's eyes were wide, her face white. 'What did I just do?'

'I don't know.' Lily was looking at her sister fearfully, as if she was afraid of her. 'What was that?'

'Molecular combustion.' It was Eric who answered. He got up from the floor, blood flowing from his chest moments before nowhere to be seen.

'Eric, you're all right! But he…he stabbed you!' Lily exclaimed.

'I heal fast.' Eric opened his shirt, which was bloodied, to show a mark on his chest that looked as if it was weeks old. 'Holly. Are you all right?'

Holly had sunk down onto the floor, still shaking. Nothing had prepared her for what she had just done. Although she knew she had that power, it still didn't lessen the fact that she had just killed a man. OK, he was a warlock, but he still looked partly human.

'I…killed…someone.'

'He was a bad guy.' Eric told her softly, crouching down next to her and putting his arm around her. 'He's not an innocent. You were protecting your sister and Owen. You did the right thing. The witch in you knows that, that's why you blew him up.'

'I didn't think I could do that.'

'You _shouldn't_ be able to do that. Your active powers were supposed to be bound until your eighteenth birthday. Yours and Lily's. I don't like this. I don't like this one bit. I don't what's going on but it looks as if some third party outside of the family has activated your Charmed status.'

'What does that mean?' Lily asked.

'It means,' Eric said sadly, 'that your lives aren't going to be the same anymore. And that everything is going to change.'

Lily and Holly looked at each other with unease and shock. How many more changes could they bear?

* * *

><p><em>Hopefully new chapters should be posted quicker than last week! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. xx<em>


	27. Chapter 27

**CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN**

'We ought to go home.' Eric announced, getting to his feet. It had been about five minutes since the Carrier had had been vanquished and all four of them had stayed on the terrace, lost in their thoughts. 'Chris and my grandparents need to know about all this.'

Holly was sitting with Owen, looking into his calm face, wishing she herself was in a state like his. So easy, so dead-to-the-world. If Holly was unconscious she wouldn't have to deal with any of the mess she had just gone through. She wouldn't have used her powers, a thing that she had sworn she would never do after witnessing her father die that way. Holly felt tainted and dirty, as if she had just committed a crime.

'Home?' Lily repeated. Lily looked equally shaken by everything, her hair a mess from the wind that was blowing strongly on the terrace. 'But…but I'm on a date. I can't just leave.'

'A date? With who?' Eric's jaw set in annoyance. Was Lily going to turn into Holly? Was she going to become as boy-mad as her fifteen year old sister?

'With a guy from school.' Lily said uncomfortably, looking at the floor. Why she felt so awkward, she didn't know. She had no right to feel ashamed in front of Eric. She really liked Freddy. And Freddy was into her. 'He's DJing downstairs. I was staying so I could catch his set.'

'It's three in the morning, Lily.' Eric said with disapproval. 'It's late. We have to get back.'

'You've stayed out longer than this!' Lily interjected.

'I'm not seventeen.' Eric replied, grabbing Lily's arm and dragging her towards the door.

'Let go of me!' Lily cried, wrenching herself out of Eric's grip. 'Why are you treating me like a child? This isn't fair! The danger's gone. I need to go back downstairs.'

'One premonition and you're an expert on danger now? Do you even realise how vulnerable you are after premonitions? How weak they leave you? No way are you going downstairs!' Eric let out a laugh, thinking her plan sounded ridiculous. 'We're all going home. That means you too Holly.'

Holly just nodded. This sounded fair to her. She didn't want to stay here longer than she had to. All she could think about was getting the hell away from this terrace.

'Eric, please-' Lily began to protest but Eric cut her off.

'We'll meet you guys outside.' Eric told Holly, nodding towards Owen.

Eric took Lily's arm again and frog-marched her back into the club. Lily tried to voice her objections but Eric completely ignored her.

Holly gently began to shake Owen. After several moments his face twitched and his eyes opened.

'Ugh.' He moaned, taking his head in both hands and sitting up.

'Steady.' Holly placed a hand on his shoulder, 'Are you OK?'

'My head really hurts. What happened?' Owen demanded, his green eyes confused behind his askew glasses.

'Er…' In all the trouble Holly had completely forgotten to think of a decent cover story. 'There was a fight and some guy threw a bottle and you got knocked out. Can't you remember?'

'No…' Owen said. 'All I can remember is waiting for you to come back to the bathroom. Wait. Where are we? I wasn't on the third floor.'

'I know. The doormen carried you up here, thought it would be easier to wake you up some place quieter.'

'Why? Surely they would've wanted to get me a cab or something? Or a doctor?'

'I told them that I'd look after you.'

Owen smiled in appreciation and looked deep into Holly's eyes. The night's events must have left a visible mark on Holly's face. Owen reached up and brushed his hand gently against Holly's chin.

'I'm sorry for worrying you.' He said, thinking the worry in her countenance was due to him.

'It's not your fault!' Holly cried, heart skipping a beat at his kindness. 'You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.'

Ain't that the truth, Holly thought bitterly. She felt terrible for bringing Owen into all of this. All of her mess.

'Do you want to go home? Lily called us a cab.'

Owen nodded and got to his feet.

'Sorry for ruining your night.' Owen said embarrassedly, looking at his watch. 'Aw, man. We've missed half Freddy's set.'

'God, you really haven't.' She told him heavily, hooking her arm through his to make sure she could support him if she needed to. 'In fact, you've been the best thing about it.'

* * *

><p>Lily was getting angrier and angrier by the minute.<p>

'Eric, please!' She argued, struggling to be heard over the din of the music. 'I have to go back in!'

'No.' Eric said shortly. They were standing in foyer of the club waiting for Holly and Owen. Eric had already called a cab.

'What am I going to Freddy, then? Oh sorry I had to leave, my cousin thinks I'm incapable of looking after myself and thinks he has to escort me home _just in case _something else happens tonight?'

'You shouldn't even be dating in the first place.'

'Why the hell not?' Lily was severely taken aback by the certainty in Eric's voice.

'Because…because. You just shouldn't.' He finished lamely, avoiding her eyes.

'You're unbelievable.' Lily threw her arms into the air with frustration. 'Is this how it's going to be? All magic, no life?'

'It's better this way. I promise you, all relationships with mortals are doomed. If you're not keeping secrets from them you're protecting them all the time. There's no point prolonging the agony. Why do you think I haven't let myself get attached?'

'Just because you treat _your _girlfriends like crap doesn't mean everyone else has to. Some people actually have manners and decorum. I can't just leave without saying goodbye!'

'Like he'd even notice! All he probably wants to do is get in your pants. I know the type! Hot shot musician with charm coming out of his ass…you're just another notch in his bedpost! Expendable! This time next week he'll be onto the next naïve, unsuspecting idiotic girl.'

Lily's mouth dropped open in horror.

'You've never even met him! What do you know about it? Freddy has been the perfect gentleman tonight. He _likes_ me. I know you might find the idea shocking but I can't just be a wallflower all my life, you have no idea what it's like to feel as if your life is just passing you by. Freddy's a really good guy, if you got to know him-'

'Like hell!' Eric laughed nastily, 'I have much better things to do with my time.'

'Like what?' Lily exploded, 'Bone sluts like Darlene?'

Eric's eyes widened in surprise.

'What's Darlene got to do with anything?'

'Oh. So you insult my date and don't think this has any reflection on _your _love life? You're just jealous I've found someone decent. All you can manage to get is easy girls with zero intelligence and low standards. Don't get at me for holding out until someone good comes along.'

'Don't kid yourself, Lily.' Eric's eyes had turned to slits in rage. 'One date and you're an expert on relationships? How do you even know my type?'

'Of course I know your type! I've been to the garage! The girls that hang around there give me a clear picture of what _you _find attractive.'

'What's going on?'

Lily and Eric spun around to find Owen and Holly standing there. Holly was looking confusedly between her sister and her cousin, wondering what had happened to get them so angry at each other.

'Nothing.' Lily murmured, backing down and stalking outside onto the street. Her fury at her cousin had made her completely forget about Freddy and saying goodbye.

'Eric?' Holly asked but Eric just scowled and followed Lily outside.

'Who's that?' Owen asked.

'My cousin. He lives with us.'

'The one with the dog? What's he doing here?'

'Er…no idea.' Holly said hurriedly, 'Come on. We ought to get you home and cleaned up.'

Taking his hand, Holly led him into the cold air outside. She spotted Eric getting into a cab that Lily had just hailed and headed over to it.

Moments later they were pulling away from the curb and heading off into the night. A girl who had been standing in the shadows on the outside of _Dawsons_ smoking walked a few paces into the light of a streetlamp and glared at the rear lights of the departing taxi. It was P.J's girlfriend, Darcy. She narrowed her dark eyes as she added up the situation, coming to the wrong conclusion. So, Lily was just another girl who used Freddy for a good night out? What cheek, she thought savagely as she stubbed out her cigarette with her heel. Leaving with another guy? She couldn't believe she'd ever thought Lily Martson would be different from the other girls in Freddy's fan club, girls in lower grades who followed Freddy, P.J., Gabe and Red around looking for a piece of their them.

* * *

><p>The taxi drove to Prescott street first to let Lily and Eric out before it continued on to Owen's house. Lily, very obviously still pissed off with Eric, had slammed the cab door shut and rushed on into the house ahead of Eric, who sighed deeply and shook his head with annoyance as he got out of the car. They had not spoken one word to each other the entire ride home and had left a tense atmosphere in the back of the taxi behind them.<p>

'Is she all right?' Owen asked with concern a moment after the cab started up again.

Holly shrugged awkwardly, wondering the same thing herself.

'I don't know. She never gets like this. I wonder what could have happened.'

It was a short journey over to Owen's house. He lived three streets over from them, in a small but pretty house on the end of a terrace.

'I didn't realise you lived this close.' Holly commented.

'Yeah, I walked over earlier. I haven't passed my drivers ed, unlike some.' He winked.

Holly laughed.

'It's nice to see you smile again.' Owen I was scared that I'd done something wrong.'

'Oh.' Holly blushed. 'no, of course you didn't. I was just worried about you and then about my sister.'

'You worry too much.'

Owen gently took hold of Holly's chin and tilted it towards him. Hardly believing what was happening, the next thing she knew Owen was kissing her. And what a kiss. Deep and full of meaning, Holly had never had a kiss like it before. She felt as if she was floating, all worries and ebbing away as Owen drew his arms around her to hold her closer to him.

The driver coughed, making Owen and Holly spring apart.

'Just thought you'd like to know we're still on the meter.'

'Oh…um…thanks.' Owen said, flustered. He reached into his trouser pocket and handed the driver a few notes. He got out of the car and looked back in towards Holly.

'See you Monday.' He said, leaning forward to kiss her goodbye.

In a daze, Holly could only nod.

Wow. She thought, giddy with joy. Way to make the night end perfectly.

* * *

><p>Her jubilation was short-lived, however. The moment she got home she rushed upstairs to tell Lily about the kiss, but felt her heart falter when Lily opened her bedroom door.<p>

Her sister had tears streaming down her face.

'What's wrong?' Holly asked immediately. The delicious buzz swimming around her body since Owen's kiss fading fast and replacing with fierce concern for her sister.

Lily let out quiet sob and handed Holly her phone.

Holly looked at the screen. On it was a message from a number she didn't recognise.

THAT'S IT THEN? NOT EVEN A GOODNIGHT? HOPE YOU HAVE A NICE TIME WITH YOUR NEW GUY. DON'T EVER COME NEAR FREDDY AGAIN. HE DESERVES MUCH BETTER THAN SOMEONE LIKE YOU. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY BREAKING HIS HEART. SLUT.

Holly placed the phone down on Lily's bedside table and gathered Lily into her arms.

'Oh Lily.'

Lily cried deep into her shoulder.

'Who sent it?'

'I don't know.' Lily wept, pulling away from Holly and going to lie down on her bed. She gathered herself into a ball, sniffing, visibly heartbroken. 'One of his friends must have seen me leave with Eric. They must have got my number from Freddy's phone. Oh no! _Freddy._'

Realising that Freddy must know she left with someone other than him, Lily broke down once more, crying harder.

'As _if _you'd leave with Eric!' Holly said crossly, taking a seat at the foot of her sister's bed.

'What am I going to do?' She asked Lily hopelessly, her brown eyes filled both tears and hurt.

'I'll sort it out.' Holly offered, 'I'll go over tomorrow to the Whitepath's and explain to Freddy what happened.'

'Oh don't. That's so embarrassing!'

'Believe me, it's not. Freddy needs to know that he didn't go out with some two-timing skank. It's all right,' Holly leant in to kiss Lily's forehead. 'I'm an expert when it comes to this. I've heard it so many times before, I've memorised every excuse in the book.'

'Maybe it's for the best.' Lily sniffed sadly. 'Eric said there's no point dating a mortal. What with whatever's going to happen to us now, maybe it's better if I never see Freddy again.'

'You're kidding me?' Holly cried furiously. 'He said that to you? His _mother_ married a mortal! _Great Aunt Paige_ married a mortal. He's full of crap. No way are you giving up something that could be amazing! I saw you tonight. I've never seen you look happier. Freddy's wonderful for you. No way am I going to let Eric take that away from you just because you have something he doesn't.'

'Then why did he tell me that?'

'I don't know.' Holly replied, still seething. Who was Eric to dictate who Lily should be with? Where did this anti-mortal stance come from? If Lily wasn't allowed to be with Freddy, where did that leave her and Owen'If he knows what's good for him he'll stay out of our love lives. I'm getting sick of living by his rules. The sooner he butts out of our business, the better. God knows what _not _dating a mortal has done to him. He doesn't know the meaning _normal, _of fun. Like hell if I'm going to allow that to become us.'

* * *

><p><em>Hey guys! Glad to know you like what's been happening! Brief heads up on what's happening next...did anyone say Whitelighter? :P<br>As always please please please please please review! _


	28. Chapter 28

**CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT**

Poppy awoke slowly on Sunday morning. She had just had the most wonderful dream and wasn't keen to wake from it and return to the harsh realm of reality She had dreamt she and her mom and her aunt Kim were making Sunday dinner, her favourite pot roast with herbed potatoes, like they had done almost every Sunday. Although what her dead aunt Kim was doing there, Poppy had no idea, but the sight of her Mom gave Poppy shivers of joy. Poppy, only five foot four and extremely slight in built, was the exact spitting image of her mother except that her hair was lighter and straighter. Her mom had been so vivid; from her beautiful truffle coloured hair falling from the clip she had always worn to keep it back to the dirt underneath her fingernails from all the paints and charcoal she used day in day out at school. It was as if Poppy could have reached out and touched her. Ivy Martson was an art teacher who lived and breathed her job. She always took the girls to art galleries and while other mother's fretted about the state of their child's clothes at the end of the day, Ivy encouraged her daughters to get their hands dirty, from playing with chalk on the sidewalk outside of their house to making pretty landscapes using the marbling technique in the kitchen sink. Ivy was practical where Wyatt had been intellectual; she never shied away from manual labour and completing practical tasks. If you wanted your light bulb or fuse fixed Ivy was there, rolling her sleeves up ready for anything.

Poppy rolled over, shielding her eyes against the light that was coming from Brice's window. The curtains were open, signalling that Brice was already up. She looked at her bright orange Swatch. 8.10. That's strange, Brice loved to sleep in on Sundays, what was he doing up already?

Poppy sat up and looked over to Brice's side of the bed, which was empty. They had slept in the same bed since they were little, something that hadn't yet changed as they had got older. They knew that the situation would have to change sometime, but they were so used to sleeping together that it would seem a shame to change anything.

He must've gone down to get breakfast, Poppy realised. She got out of the bed and stretched, still aching from where she had been hunched over their biology report for hours the day before. It lay in a heap in front of the Brice's bookcase, laid aside in favour of Brice's favourite movie which they had watched before they had gone to sleep. Why Brice loved _Fight Club _so much Poppy had no idea. To her, all it was was boyish nonsense and mere style over substance. Give her _Moulin Rouge_ any day, a film with quality writing _and _cute guys who didn't posture or swear just to be cool.

Her tummy rumbled to let her know it needed food pronto. Now she thought about it, Poppy hadn't eaten anything since Brice's Mom's fish pie at 6pm last night. An avid snacker, this was a long time for Poppy to go without food. She made her way downstairs in search of breakfast and Brice.

In the kitchen, however, Cal was the only one sat eating at the breakfast table. Brice and the rest of the Whitepaths were nowhere to be seen.

Cal looked up and read the look of confusion on Poppy's face.

'They're at the orthodontist. Brice's brace needs adjusting and the orthodontist changed his appointment from tomorrow to this morning.' Cal informed her through a mouthful of cereal, 'Mom took him about half an hour ago.'

'Oh.'

Poppy had never been in Brice's house without him there. It felt quite strange, as if she wasn't allowed to be there. To make matters worse it looked like she would have to eat breakfast alone with Cal, a prospect that was not very appealing considering the way he had treated her the previous night.

'You hungry?' Cal asked, 'There's loads of cereal left. I left you some milk.'

'Oh, um, thanks.' Poppy took a seat at the table and poured herself a bowl of Choco-Flakes.

'Are you going to go home? Or do you want to wait for Brice to get back? They could be a while.'

'I don't know. I guess I should go home.' Poppy knew that the family liked to do things together on Sundays, meaning she should probably head back sooner rather than later.

'I can give you a lift if you want?'

Poppy looked over at Cal in surprise. If their encounter yesterday was playing on his mind, he wasn't showing it.

Why? She felt like asking, but then thought it might be a little rude.

'OK.' Poppy said, chewing slowly. 'Thanks.'

Until their meeting in the cemetery yesterday, Poppy had never been alone with Cal. Eating breakfast with him was strange in that it was…well…_nice. _He wasn't chatting ferociously the way Brice did, flicking through the radio stations like Freddy or enquiring after her school work the way Lois liked to do. Cal left her alone, letting her get on with eating her breakfast peacefully without bombarding her with questions. Breakfast was a chaotic time with the Halliwells, Phoebe was always in a rush, Chris usually only had time to grab a coffee before leaving and Holly and Lily were always doing something, whether gossiping or doing chores or schoolwork. Cal was just eating his cereal leisurely. It looked as if he was enjoying the quiet, his face was tranquil, relaxed. The most relaxed Poppy had ever seen it.

When Poppy had finished her bowl Cal cleared it away without a word and washed both their cereal dishes up without saying a word. Cal was tidy. She knew that from the state of his immaculate room and the way he had immediately taken her bowl to clean. She had to admit she liked this about him. In the chaos that was turning into her life, Cal was an unexpected relief from that. Who knew?

'I'll let you get cleaned up and dressed. Half an hour OK?' Cal asked from the sink.

'That's fine.' Poppy nodded. She didn't take half as long to get ready as Holly did in the mornings.

Thirty minutes later Poppy was sat in the passenger seat of Cal's BMW. It was when they were stopped at a set of traffic lights when Cal finally spoke. He looked nervous and serious, his brown eyes slightly embarrassed as he turned to look at her.

'Poppy,' he began, running a hand through his hair awkwardly. 'I want to apologise for being such a dick yesterday. I know you weren't snooping but you probably realised what was going on. It's not something I generally like to talk about, nobody really knows and I-'

'-Oh, it's OK. I'm sorry that I-'

'No,' Cal interrupted. 'It's not OK. I'm kind of glad you were there because it made me realise that I need to get help. I really didn't mean to be so horrible to you. It's just frustrating, I feel so stupid that I can't seem to be able to understand even the simplest of books.'

'The, erm, French textbook you were studying did look rather difficult.'

Cal let out a brief laugh.

'Yeah…you could say that.' Although both Poppy and Brice knew each others magical secrets, neither had told any of their siblings, wanting to keep it between them for as long as possible. It looked as if Cal thought she thought he _had _been reading the French textbook.

'Doesn't anyone in your family help you?'

'No.' Cal's jaw set in a stony expression. 'They don't know anything about it. I couldn't. I live in a family of geniuses. I can't…I just…' He sighed.

'Just what?' Poppy asked softly. She didn't know why but she felt her heart go out to him. He was pouring out his own to her, something Poppy wasn't used to. Lily was the one everyone confided in. She was just the bit-part. The younger sister, not to be taken seriously. Cal was probably the only one, except his brother, who had ever talked to her on the same level.

'Feel so alone. I've got no one. Nobody understands, everyone thinks that I'm this brilliant jock who's so sure of everything. I guess that's why I've bullied Brice to do my homework til now…to save face. But I can't do it forever. It's so pathetic. Brice's work will get harder as he gets older…I couldn't do that to him. I've been such a shit to him. I don't want him to hate me. I'm going to see someone about my anger issues too, it isn't fair that I keep lashing out on others from my own shit.'

Poppy had never seen this side to him before. He was acting so sensitive, so…_real_. He wasn't putting on his act for her. He was being himself. And from the looks of it confident, cocky Cal was actually someone who was consumed with an unnatural amount self-loathing and insecurity. From someone she thought she had nothing in common with, Poppy was beginning to realise that they shared more common ground than she had realised.

She didn't know what to say to all this but she felt incredibly touched that Cal was confiding in her. She guessed seeing her in a vulnerable state in front of her parents' graves yesterday had made Cal see something in her worth confiding in.

'I wish I had someone like you Poppy. Brice is so lucky.' Cal continued bitterly. 'You're such a good friend to him. You're so sweet and kind and genuine. Most of my so-called friends don't even know my middle name.'

'I would be happy about that,' Poppy smiled, 'Raymond isn't something you would want to broadcast exactly.'

'It was my mom's dad's name!' Cal said with a laugh, 'See what I mean? You're amazing Poppy. I'd love to have someone like you as a friend.'

'We can be friends,' Poppy offered, blushing deeply from Cal's 'amazing' comment.

Cal let his guard down even more and shot her an appreciative half smile.

He pulled up just on the curb outside her house. Chris's, Phoebe's, Eric's, Coop's and Holly's new car were all parked either on the driveway or on the street. Poppy wondered what everyone was doing home; normally the family stuff didn't kick off until after Chris had returned from the office at midday.

'Thanks for the lift.' Poppy said.

'That's all right. I'm really sorry about last night. I do feel really bad.'

'Don't. It's OK.' Poppy said, brushing his apology aside. 'Do you want me to talk to Lily? She might be able to tutor you.'

Cal didn't say anything for a moment. He stared towards Eric's jeep that was parked in front of him.

'All right.' Cal said in undertone finally, looking down and sighing heavily. 'But I don't want anyone else to know OK? I'd feel so ashamed if it got out.'

'She won't tell anyone.' Poppy assured him. 'It's nothing to be afraid of. Loads of people have dyslexia. Famous people even.'

'Dyslexia.' Cal repeated, slowly, 'Well, I guess I better get used to hearing the word.'

It's a much better label than _witch_ Poppy thought as she shot Cal a final thankful smile and got out of the car.

* * *

><p>The reason as to why everyone's car was still parked immediately became apparent as soon as Poppy walked through the front door. The family was assembled in the living room; Coop, Eric, Phoebe and her sisters. It was barely nine and everyone was up, dressed and from the looks of it, engaged in a deep, serious discussion.<p>

'Hey,' Poppy said uncertainly as she made her way into the living room, 'What's going on?'

'You'd better sit down Poppy.' Phoebe said. She and Coop were sat on the sofa opposite to Lily and Holly, whilst Eric was perched on the end of the arm of the couch were Holly and Lily were seated.

Poppy took a seat next to Lily. She looked horrible; pale, drawn, her eyes red and squinty. Had she been crying?

'What's happened?' Poppy's insides were turning to ice as she took in the tense atmosphere and stony, serious expressions on everyone's faces.

'Lily had a premonition last night when she and your sister were at _Dawsons_.' Phoebe told her. 'She had a vision of a demon attacking and killing Owen…causing Holly's powers to activate also. Eric, Lily and Holly luckily managed to save Owen but it is a very serious matter. We're trying to get to grips with the news and plan our next steps.'

'A premonition? Next steps? What do you mean? Something's going to happen to us? Are we in danger?' Poppy's words tumbled out of her mouth in a flash. So much for the calm she had felt with Cal earlier, the usual Halliwell panic and disorder was already flooding back into her system.

Holly, who was sitting on the other side of Lily, shot Poppy an angry look as if to say '_well done_' and took Lily's hand. Poppy noticed and gave Holly a searching look in return, which she did not make an effort to clarify.

Phoebe sighed deeply, her brown eyes heavy with anxiety and tiredness.

'We don't know. No one in the magical world except a few Elders and family members know there are new Charmed Ones. The fact that Lily and Holly have received their 'active' power is unprecedented and extremely worrisome. After your parents died and we had read their will your 'active' powers were bound until you came of age at their request, something we all agreed was the best action to take while you became used to the ways of magic and you were given suitable training by myself, Chris, Coop and Eric. Your minor powers, Lily's retrocognition, Holly's summoning, your telepathic communication….they were just baby-steps to help you prepare for a life with witchcraft. The fact that demons are already marking people close to you and that you girls are getting involved in protecting innocents at your age…it means that someone has activated and given you all Charmed status.'

'You said Holly got her active power?' Poppy asked sharply. Of all the things Phoebe had just told her, this was the thing that she picked up on first. 'Does that mean I'm getting mine too? What is mine?'

'Molecular immobilisation. It's the power to-' Eric began.

'Freeze things.' Poppy finished, panic rising within her. 'I know. I froze something a few weeks ago. A vase. I knocked it off the counter and it was falling to the floor. I stopped it.'

Coop, Phoebe, Eric and her sisters all looked at her with surprise and incredulity.

'Why didn't you say anything before?' Enquired Coop. Eric was raising his eyebrow in an amused sort of way, pissing Poppy off no end. Why did they always treat her like a child? How was she to know it was so important?

Poppy shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

'I didn't think it was a big deal…'

Holly let out a bitter laugh that cut right through her.

'If you'd have said something it might have let us know that we were the official Charmed Ones earlier! Given us time to get used to the idea before we had to protect an innocent from being murdered on our dates! Prepare me for the news that it was _my date _who was going to get murdered. I can't believe you!'

'How was I supposed to know?' Poppy shot back, equally as angry. 'For heavens sake! How did I know freezing something was a major deal? I had no idea it was classed as an _active power_.' She said the last words sarcastically, her anger at the situation getting the better of her.

'Of course it's an active power!' Phoebe cried exasperatedly. 'Piper having it saved our lives countless times! It's a Charmed staple power! Surely you knew that Poppy! You aren't that naïve!'

'How did you know we would get those exact powers?' It was the first time Lily had spoken since Poppy had come home. The idea of having visions of people in danger, seeing their imminent deaths and the intimate details of them…it worried her. What if they weren't prepared enough? What if she and her sisters couldn't manage to save them in time? 'You knew that we would get them before we did. How exactly?'

Phoebe and Coop shared an uneasy look. Phoebe took a while to answer, as if seriously considering the amount of information to divulge.

'Kim saw foresaw it in a vision of it many years ago. The premonition power passed from me to her. And now to you. Of course, we had no idea what it meant. Just that you girls would be witches with extraordinary powers, not unlike anyone else in the family.'

Kim Halliwell was an amazing witch that had been taken before her time. She and her husband Greg were driving with her sister Isobel after a meal to celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday when a lorry had crashed into them, ending all three lives. The loss the two of her last remaining daughters had meant that any Charmed legacy passing to Phoebe's children had vanished, adding more anguish to the fact that all of her children had been killed. The fact that Phoebe had Eric provided her with long lasting comfort, and their shared grief for the loss of Kim, Greg and Isobel had brought the family closer. Chris, who was extremely close to Kim – best friends and so-called partners in crime, Ivy and Wyatt were instrumental in helping Phoebe cope in the months after, something she felt she was returning to Poppy, Holly and Lily now in the way she could care for them. She owed it to Wyatt and Ivy, and Chris, to provide their children with the care and love they had given her in her time of need.

'Eric, you said that our lives wouldn't be the same anymore.' Lily murmured, drawing her knees up to her chest and hugging them. 'Phoebe, does that mean we're going to live the lives you and your sisters used to?'

The idea of fighting with each other, sacrificing loved-ones, careers, travel plans...Lily felt as if she was losing something rather than gaining it. Although she had had time to get used to the idea that she was a witch, she had no idea the extent to which it would take hold of her. After her premonition of Owen last night, and the nights subsequent drama, she had felt purposeful and as if she was suddenly bound by duty. It was a nice feeling but one which felt incredibly heavy in her heart.

'No honey.' For the first time since Poppy had joined the conversation, Phoebe's expression softened slightly. 'You are going to have a lot more help than we had. I've gone through it all myself, and Chris and Eric have both been exposed to this lifestyle from when they were young. Unlike you, they were brought up in it.'

'I don't know what's worse.' Holly said heavily. 'Leading a normal life, thinking you're a mortal and then discovering you're a witch and feeling as if you've been lied to your whole life, or growing up the world of magic and danger and massive amount death?'

'What is normal?' Eric asked with a scowl. 'Mortals are ignorant of the world around them. Although I had a crappy upbringing until Mom adopted me, I'd rather have lived this life than some blind, stupid life of a mortal.'

'Just where exactly does this hatred of mortals-' Holly rebutted but Poppy interrupted her.

'Where is Uncle Chris?'

As if answering her question, a swirl of white/blue light erupted in the middle of the room. A second later Chris appeared. He was not alone. He had brought with him someone who nobody in the room had ever seen before. Tall, strikingly thin, dressed in an immaculately ironed striped shirt, pressed blazer, pencil knee-length skirt and practical heels, was a woman in her early to mid thirties. She had platinum blonde hair, almond shaped bright ice-blue eyes and a full mouth that was set in a hard line, expressing the personality of a person who meant business and thrived on rule-abiding. The woman looked around at everyone with an expression of mild distaste, which immediately got Phoebe's back up. Nobody came into her house and acted as if they were above her.

'Chris.' Phoebe got to her feet. 'What happened? You've been gone for hours.'

'The meeting went on for longer than I expected. A few complications arose. It turns out I'm not allowed-'

'Allowed to what?' Holly asked immediately, wondering what on earth this woman was doing in her living room and why she was looking as if she owned the place.

Chris looked frustrated. 'I can't take the position…'

'And rightly so.' The woman overrode him, looking at the sisters patronisingly. 'Hello. My name is Isla Moore. I am your Whitelighter.'

* * *

><p><em>Massive apologies for not updating sooner! Life has been chaotic, and even though I swore to myself I wouldn't let life get in the way of updating, it got the better of me! The plan for the whole story has been written - I just want to try and flesh it out to the best it can be for all of those who have been so kind enough to review. Loads of action, fun, heartbreak and adventure on its way...the story is just about to really begin! More from Freddy &amp; Lily, ERIC &amp; Lily, Holly and Owen, BriceCal/Poppy and a few new characters. Friends become foes and foes become friends. Just your average day with the Halliwell family really!  
>Thanks for sticking with the girls! Is there anything you wish you could see in the story? Any improvements? Any requests? As always, please review! x<em>


	29. Chapter 29

**CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE**

Phoebe sank back down onto the sofa, needing comfort as she felt increasingly confused and deflated. Coop placed a strong hand on Phoebe's arm, sensing his wife's distress and wanting to console her. The girls had been sent upstairs in order for the Halliwells to understand the new arrangement without their interference, much to the girls' protest. Holly had refused point blank to leave the room and it wasn't until Eric intervened, promising that he would speak on her behalf and tell her everything , that she had reluctantly agreed to go up to her room. It was unfair. To have their whole future mapped out for them by someone else. And by someone who wasn't even in the family.

It appeared the guidance and training of the girls in their newly acquired powers would be at the discretion of Isla. She would orchestrate and oversee that the sisters would have daily 'lessons' in witchcraft, as well as practical tasks in spell making, casting and potion making. They would also have to undertake 'dummy' attacks, fake combat with 'fake' demons to prepare them for the real thing and their future in protecting innocents to the best of their ability. Every day after school the girls would have to have 'witch' training, from four until six pm. They had to do this by obligation, they had no choice in the matter. It was their birth-right. The fact that Wyatt had vehemently decided otherwise was neither here nor there. Isla had made it clear that the Halliwell family had no jurisdiction or say when it came to the 'career of the Marston witches', her exact words. Despite what it said in his will, when Wyatt had changed his name to Marston at 18 he had unbeknownstly eliminated any influence or part of the Halliwell family in his children's magical upbringing and training until all three girls were 21 and legally obliged to make their own decisions. The Elders, as if knowing more uproar and upheaval was the last thing the girls needed, conceded that the girls could still be cared for by the Halliwells in a domestic capacity. But according to new Elder legislation it was only when they were 21 that they were allowed to choose who they received their training from, their family or their Whitelighter. From now until then they would have to put up with Isla.

It took an hour for Chris, Phoebe, Coop and Eric and Isla to come to any agreement in the matter. Isla, a well-established and renowned

Whitelighter, was well qualified for the job with over ten years of experience with 'highly difficult cases'. She had argued that the girls would progress and acclimatise to their powers much quicker under her tutelage without their 'emotional attachment to the family' getting in the way. That Phoebe had lived a Charmed life for most of her life was inconsequential, Isla even had the gall to point out that the deaths of Prue, Piper and Paige, and even Phoebe's daughters, all could have been prevented if she had been taught and looked after by a Whitelighter that was not 'involved emotionally' with the family. According to the Elders, the messy, chaotic, hasty and ill-prepared style that had made up the previous Charmed Ones was to be avoided at all costs. Things would be done differently this time around. A new era of Witchcraft was dawning, one which relied less on intuition and flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants and more determined by intricate planning, training and logic, all imparted by an objective, unbiased third party Whitelighter.

Despite his own personal outrage at it all, Chris had to hand it to Isla – she would be perfect for the job. She had rebutted Phoebe's loud rage and hysterical objections with a calm and aloof distance. Ever the professional, she had asked them all to refrain from addressing her by her first name and insisted they call her 'Ms Moore'. She said that it was not her aim or desire to create a rift between the family but that she simply wanted to do her job and do it well. She also said that falling out with the Halliwell family after everything they had gone through together was the last thing Elders wanted. Chris thought this was a bit rich and felt incredibly insulted by this, but had discovered that trying to get his point across to Ms Moore, no matter how calmly or proficiently explained, was pointless. He knew from experience that once the Elders had made their mind up, it was set forever. The only thing that comforted Chris was his sure belief that Holly would find some way to rebel. And for once, he was happy about it.

The new regime under Isla Moore did not start until the following weekend, so when the girls went to bed that Sunday night they were still trying to come to terms with the news. All three were still reeling and felt incredibly bristled and hurt by the decisions that were made without their consent. It did not matter that they were not allowed to receive training from Phoebe or Chris any more, the fact their new training schedule under a non-Halliwell Whitelighter was to go ahead in direct opposition to their fathers dying wish was the problem.

* * *

><p>'Dad didn't want this for us'. Lily said hollowly, hugging her pillow close to her chest.<p>

The girls were in Lily's bedroom in their pyjamas, all lying across Lily's bed and holding each other for comfort. The day had been a long one. Isla had not left until dinner time and the whole day had been taken up with lesson planning, organising and testing. The girls had had to demonstrate all their powers to Isla in order for her to understand what 'level' they were currently on, whatever that meant. She had taken notes without expression, something Lily had found infuriating and when she had asked what Isla thought about everything Isla had replied; 'you will find out next week once I have added up all of the data'. Lily was used to being told where to improve and the fact that these initial 'tests' were without answers unsettled her. Was she a bad witch? Would she even be able to become a good one?

'It sucks.' Poppy sighed. 'It completely sucks. I wanted to volunteer at the school paper but I can't do that now if we have to come straight home every day.'

'You won't be able to tutor after school any more Lil,' Holly pointed out, stroking Poppy's hair. 'You'll have to sacrifice your lunch times and free periods if you still want to carry on.'

'I don't know if I'll be able to continue at all.' Lily said heavily. She felt as if her whole life had changed its course in one single day. 'There goes college plans, there goes helping out the school nurse. There goes an internship at the hospital.'

'I hate this.' Holly groaned, her blue eyes filled with an unusual amount of helplessness.

'Maybe we can still get a bit of leeway. I mean…we could refuse?' Poppy piped up, desperately wanting something, _anything _to lighten the mood. The whole day had been a major suck-fest.

'We can't.' Holly shook her head. 'Think about all of the innocents that would die because of our selfishness. And if we refuse and get trained by Uncle Chris or Phoebe their own powers get stripped in punishment. The Elders know what they're doing, they've got us.'

'Chris always said they were shrewd.' Conceded Lily. 'The thing is, the Elders are nothing without witches, they become obsolete, but we need them in order to survive.'

There was a knock at Lily's bedroom door.

'Come in.' She called, her voice thick with unshed tears.

The door opened and in the frame stood someone she was completely unprepared to see.

'_Freddy_?' Lily croaked, aware that she was dressed in her old, ratty tartan pyjama bottoms and 'Model UN' t-shirt from two summers ago.

'Oh sorry!' Freddy exclaimed, eyes going wide as he observed the room with all sisters dressed for bed. 'I didn't realise it was this late. Your aunt said to come on up. I've interrupted something. I'll go.'

'No…wait!' Holly and Poppy shared an amused look as their sister scrambled off the bed and hurried after him, blushing to her mahogany roots.

'What's going on?' Eric appeared in the open doorway a second later with his arms laden with fresh laundry after a trip downstairs and a scowl. 'Who was that?'

'The guy you messed things up with Lily last night.' Holly snarked, still annoyed at him for his part in Lily's less than joyous mood all day.

'Doesn't look like I messed things up though, does it?' Eric said harshly.

'Good. Shut the door on your way up would you?' Holly asked, glaring at him.

Eric flashed her a look of pure loathing as he pulled the door to a close. They heard him thumping his way to the attic and slam his own bedroom door.

'What's got him in a tiz?' Poppy wondered, 'it's not as if his life's been ruined. If anything, he should be happy. He doesn't have to baby-sit or deal with us anymore.'

'He won't be able to legitimately hunt demons. Now that a certified Whitelighter's in our lives, it means the Elders can keep tabs on him. It means no more demon sleuthing or undercover work underground, no more shady behaviour.'

'What's he going to do?'

Holly shrugged. It wasn't her problem. She couldn't really care less, he was a big boy. He could handle it. It wasn't as if he was going to have the direct Elder monitoring she and her sisters were going to.

'Who cares?' Holly bit out, thinking it was about time something put a stop to Eric's violent tendencies and thrill-seeking behaviour. 'Do you want to watch a movie? Nothing supernatural, nothing sci-fi, just something pure teenager-y to distract us from the impending life of adult-responsibility and crappiness?'

'Superbad?' Poppy suggested.

'Perfect.'

* * *

><p>'Freddy!' Lily called as she followed him out onto the street, 'Freddy! Wait, please!'<p>

She caught up with him at the end of the driveway and gently grabbed his arm, both afraid of physical contact with him and what he would say to her.

Freddy turned to look at her, his azure eyes sad and hesitant.

'I shouldn't have come by.' He looked down at his beat up chequered Vans, scared to look at her.

'No, I'm glad you did.' Lily cried with emotion. 'I've wanted so badly to explain what happened last night but I haven't had a chance to all day.'

'What's happened? Are you OK?' Realising she was being sincere, Freddy quickly felt concern beat down the hurt and disappointment that had beleaguered him since he had discovered that Lily had left during his set the night before without saying goodbye or giving a reason as to why.

'Not really.' She shook her head, 'Family stuff. I can't really go into it.'

'Oh…OK.'

'Can we sit?' She asked him, feeling insecure as the night air hit the thin material of her t-shirt.

'Sure.'

Following her lead, he sat next to her on the low wall that surrounded the house.

'What happened last night?' asked Freddy softly, hardly standing to wait for her to speak and desperate to find out the real reason and to quell the rumours Darcy had begun to spread around.

Lily drew in a deep breath. Before she had finally fallen asleep last night she had spent hours trying to think up a decent excuse in the event that Freddy would want to hear what she would have to say. Pessimism overcame her, so she had given up searching for something to say in order to lament the approaching tragedy of a Freddy-less life before her.

'Someone started a fight.' Lily began. It had worked for Holly after all. 'Owen got in the way and a bottle hit him on the head. We had to get him somewhere quiet and make sure he was OK. My cousin was in the area and he took us home. We didn't want to ruin your night and I knew that you would stop your set. And in the drama of everything that happened and I didn't know how to tell you what happened, I didn't know you would want to speak to me again.'

'Is Owen all right?' Ever worried for others, his concern for Owen outweighed any notion that the whole thing sounded ludicrous.

'Oh, he's absolutely fine. Holly spoke to him earlier. He doesn't need stitches or anything but he's had a massive headache all day apparently.'

'It must've been scary. Were you there? Did you see it happen?'

Lily wanted to laugh. Yeah, I saw it, she thought. I saw everything. Both what _could _have happened to Owen and what _did _happen to him at the hands of her and her impulsive cousin.

'Yeah. I saw it. Oh Freddy.' Lily sighed, 'I'm really,_ really_ sorry it happened during your set. I so wanted to see you play. Did it go all right?'

Freddy smiled wryly.

'It was great. One of the best two hours of my life. The crowd were wonderful.'

'I wish I could've seen it.' Disappointment and regret collided in her.

'There will be other nights.' Freddy's fingertips brushed her hand and a moment later it lay over it. He squeezed it reassuringly.

'Did…did Darcy say something about my cousin and me…?'

'When I finished and found everyone and saw that you weren't there, that wasn't so good.' Freddy said awkwardly. 'Darcy mentioned that she saw you leave with some guy and that confused me. It didn't seem like something you would do. I was so sure that we had something and to hear that, well…'

'Nothing like that went on.' Lily told him firmly, imploring him with all her soul to believe her. 'Eric…he's not my real cousin. He was adopted by my Aunt Kim and he's like a brother to me. An annoying brother who thinks he has some sort of say in the way I lead my life. I'm not interested in him like that. When I got Darcy's text I thought-'

'I'm sorry about that,' Freddy interrupted with embarrassment. 'I had no idea she had done that. I found out about an hour ago that she had stolen my phone during my set to take your number. If I'd have known...that's why I came over. I wanted you to know I don't think you're a slut. Lily…I really like you. I know something went down at home today that you can't tell me about, but I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need me.'

Freddy looked over at Lily to see silent tears falling down her face.

He reached out and wiped them.

'I mean it.' He said, drawing her into his arms. Freddy knew that Lily must have received some bad news today; he could see it in her face. He hated to see her look so sad, it made his own heart ache. 'I'll always be here for you. I can take care of you Lily. You don't have to go through anything alone.'

She could feel his heart beat through the thick material of his Dartmouth hoodie, a consistent beating reassurance that everything was going to be all right.

'Thank you.' She wept into his chest, all the events of the weekend becoming too much to bear. 'Thank you.'

* * *

><p><em>Eek! Sorry this has been so heavy. Fun and lightness imminent! Please review :) x <em>


	30. Chapter 30

**CHAPTER THIRTY**

'Girls?' Eric yelled up the stairs. 'Are you ready? It's time to go! I'm going to be late!'

Eric was in an awful mood. Although he favoured hunting demons on his own, a fellow vigilante who he sometimes collaborated with had given him a tip off about a nest of Pirali demons by the docks. Isla Moore's continual presence at the house yesterday had meant that he had no chance to go out and take a look without alerting her to his 'illegal' hobby. Demon-hunting was strictly allocated to those who were blessed with 'good' magic, not those who were 'ex-demon' and whose own darkness leanings were a little shady. Furthermore, those who wanted to hunt the forces of darkness were required to apply for a special license, something that Eric had failed to do, getting on his high horse every time Phoebe mentioned it and stating that 'there's no way I'm going to apply for a stupid permit to do something I was born to do and can do in my sleep.' Killing demons was in his blood, he _was _one. If he couldn't go out and fight it made him agitated, aggressive and restless. In some twisted way Eric felt he was doing his duty, cleaning the streets of demon scum was therapeutic for him. It also helped atone for the sins he committed before he was old enough to know any better, before Kim had adopted him and brought him into good, before she showed him there was another way to live than living by a doctrine of terror, extortion, excessive violence and amorality.

'All right, all right!' Holly yawned as she came down, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. After she and Poppy had watched _Superbad_ the night before they both were too wired to fall asleep, so had stuck on _Moulin Rouge_ afterwards. It was gone two in the morning before they went to bed.

'Lily! Poppy!' Eric shouted again, glancing at his watch which told him they were already ten minutes later than they should be. To add insult to injury, his bad mood also climaxed when he looked outside his window late last night to see Lily cosying up to some guy outside on the drive. He had stared at them for several moments, anger and jealousy flaring in his chest. It took the sight of Lily with another boy to make him realise the extent of his feelings towards her, something that startled him. Eric had never looked twice at girls like Lily before, but living with her, seeing her habits and the way in which her inherent kindness come through in everything she did, it made him realise that Lily was someone special and worth fighting for.

'I'm here!' Poppy announced, toast in her mouth as she came running into the hall from the kitchen. She put on her coat and brushed her long brown hair with her free hand, an expert at multi-tasking.

'Why's Horatio got you coming in an hour earlier?' Holly asked over her shoulder as she applied lip stain in the hall way mirror.

'Tyrone's on holiday, so I'm doing a few extra shifts. Means I can drop you all off at school every day.' Eric explained. After the fall-out yesterday, Eric, Chris and Phoebe and Coop had decided to make sure they spent as much time with the girls as possible and had decided to alternate driving and picking them up from school. This week Eric had offered since he had to go into work early and the garage was only a few blocks away from the school. Now he wished he hadn't. If the girls were going to be late every day, Horatio would ride his ass for the rest of the day. Horatio was the tough Latino owner of _Fernandez Motors_, a family owned business that had been in Horatio's family since the thirties.

'For Gods sake! Where's Lily? LILY!'

Poppy looked at Eric in surprise, wondering where his impatience with Lily was coming from. She had noticed that Eric had become a lot more short tempered and irritated with her oldest sister recently. Ever since they had rescued her from Biollopium Poppy had sensed in a change in the way in which they interacted with each other. Lily had taken to avoiding him, whilst Eric always seemed to be inquiring after her and offering to pick her up after her tutoring sessions after school. It was weird.

'LILY!' Eric shouted after Lily had ceased to appear at his call, a crease of annoyance furrowing deeper into his brow. 'COME ON!'

'Jeez Eric!' Holly raised an eyebrow. 'Chill out.'

'No.' Eric growled, looking almost demonic with the way in which aggravation was taking over. 'She's going to make me late. What the hell is she even doing up there?'

'Sorry! Sorry, I'm just coming!'

A few moments later Lily came down stairs, her face apologetic and flushed. The reason why she had taken so long to became apparent the moment she came into view. She had taken extra effort with her appearance. Dressed in a black dress with a white jersey underneath, with dark lilac tights that accentuated her long slim legs, she looked as if she was going on a lunch date rather than a day at school. She had even worn a bit of make-up, something she never bothered with for class before, and her hair had been carefully curled.

Not noticing anything unusual, Holly and Poppy made their way out the door but Eric stood glaring at her while Lily put on her coat and black patent brogues.

'Why are you looking so glam for school for?' Eric grumbled, folding his arms across his chest. Her beautiful exterior seemed to irritate him even more than her lateness.

'What do you mean?' She focussed on tying her shoelaces, her hair deliberately forming a curtain across her face so that he wouldn't see her blush.

'You look like you're going on a date.' Eric said stoutly, ever one for pointing out the obvious.

Lily looked up, trying to read where he was coming from.

'What's it to you? I felt like wearing this today. SoI wore it. What's the big deal?'

'There's no big deal! Now stop messing around with your shoes and get in the darn car.'

Lily stared with her mouth agape as she watched Eric turn on his heel and clomp down to his car.

She sighed and picked up her bag, following him. She wished she could figure out what was eating him lately. All he did was yell at her. What had she done wrong? He was always treating her like a child these days, speaking down to her and snapping at her at every opportunity. Where was the cousin who had treated her as an equal?

Despite Eric's fascist concern of time management they pulled up to school on time. They were just pulling into the car park only to find a big silver Land Rover blocking the drop off lane.

'What now?' Eric cried, banging his fists on the steering wheel and leaning on the horn. 'Move it Yuppie asshole!'

Holly and Poppy, who were sat in the back together, shared an incredulous look. Holly made her mind up then that she would be the one to drive them all to school from now on. Eric provided too much stress before school had even begun!

The driver of the Land Rover did nothing but out of the passenger door a girl got out and slammed the door shut behind her. She was a small, slim girl with blonde wavy hair that fell down her back like a cascade of sunshine. But the happy ended there. Her large eyes were encircled with an overstated amount of kohl liner and her ears were filled with silver piercings. If Eric was annoyed, he had nothing on this girl. Along with the fierce scowl her torn jeans, black Doc's, baggy formless sweater and Jansport backpack that had 'Fight the Power' graffitied artistically on it in white-out, helped solidify her status as an epitome of the anti-establishment – the last thing you would expect to get out of a brand new, state of the art Land Rover.

The surprises kept coming. A few moments after the girl had begun to stride towards the school; the driver got out of the car and marched after her. Her pencil skirt and authoritative gait looked mighty familiar.

'Is that….' Lily wondered from up front, peering closer to get a better look.

'That's Isla Moore!' Holly shrieked as she too recognised the woman in the expensive suit and her hair scraped anal-retentively back away from her face in a tight knot. 'What's she doing here?'

Had she come to check up on them? Spy on them? Follow them around at school like an escort?

'That must be her daughter.' In the shock, Eric's anger had vanished and was replaced by curiosity.

The four of them watched Isla catch up with the girl and had grab her by the shoulder to spin her around to face her. The girl lifted her chin defiantly but they could not hear what was being said through the glass of the car. They looked as if they were arguing.

'Ugh.' Poppy shuddered as they watched their new Whitelighter lay into the girl. 'Imagine having that control freak as your mother.'

'She looks way to young to have a daughter!' Lily said. 'Wow. I wonder what grade she's in?'

'Looks like she's giving her a piece of her mind.' Holly smirked, noticing the way the girl was standing her ground. 'Good on her. With a mother like that I'd sure like to drive her out of her tree.'

'You would,' Poppy pointed out. She glanced behind her, wondering if there was a queue behind them. 'Ahhhh! Brice is here!'

Lois Whitepath's car had parked just behind them. Poppy turned around and waved to Brice's mom, who smiled back.

'No, wait!' Holly hissed, grabbing Poppy's hand as it touched the door handle. 'Isla will see us!'

'And?' Poppy looked surprised. 'She knows we go to school here. It's not like she can drag us into witch duty or anything now. After her speech about 'priority one: secrecy from the mortal world', there's no chance she'd make us skip school.'

'I wouldn't put it past her, what with her telling us one Saturday a month is to go to training. Pardon me if I want a little bit of freedom at school!' Holly said heatedly. Even the sight of Isla a few hundred feet away from her made her blood boil. Isla Moore was the anti-Halliwell.

'Don't worry, she's going.' Lily commented, and Holly saw that the girl Isla was walking back to her car, the girl she had been talking to nowhere to be seen. She must have gone on into school.

With that Poppy got out and rushed to greet her best friend, grateful to see him after the stressful day she had experienced the day before. Brice grinned his usual grin when he saw her and they immediately headed towards their Homeroom. Even though they had spent most of the weekend together, they always found they had plenty to talk about. Brice was talking her ear off with news that Calhad done his share of the chores without asking both last night _and _this morning, making Brice wonder if his brother had had a lobotomy. Poppy told him that she had finished the final touches to their Biology project, and they both began to argue about who was going to go first in their presentation in fourth period.

Freddy and Cal got out of the car after him. Unlike Isla Moore, Lois got out and kissed all her sons and gave them all well wishes for their day. Freddy noticed Lily in Eric's car and started to make his way over to her, beaming. She had to admire this about him. He made a decision and stuck to it, even despite the antagonistic glare he was getting from Eric. She wished she could have his measured confidence.

'Oh look. It's wonder boy.' Eric narrowed his eyes as Lily's _friend _came closer into view.

Lily shot her cousin an incredulous look and got out of the car, slamming the door and refusing to say thank you for the lift and goodbye. After the time she had spent with Freddy the night before, Lily had felt as if a monumental weight had been lifted from her shoulders. They had sat outside and talked with each other for another hour and a half before Freddy left. They had made plans to go to _Lockhart's_, Lily's favourite coffee shop after school after Lily had discovered Freddy's mutual weakness for strong Americanos. Lily was friendly with the owner, a woman in her twenties who had dropped out of college to become a writer but who ran the shop until she got published. Emily Lockhart was a hippy, and was so open and easy-going and friendly that Lily longed to be around her. Her welcoming attitude and shop had drawn Lily out of her shell a bit, and she always went there when things got too much at home.

'Are you all right?' Holly asked Eric in a softer voice than usual, noticing the weirdness that had just occurred between him and Lily.

'What?' Eric jumped, 'Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine.' He dismissed. 'Have a good time at school.'

He turned to flash her his cheeky smile but there was something lacking in it.

'Sure. Say hi to Horatio.' Holly joked and hopped out of the car.

Eric stared after her as she too made her way into school. It had been a few years since he had done the same, but he couldn't help but notice the similar loneliness and pressure that had plagued his younger self surround his cousin as she climbed the steps alone. For all her confidence and charm, Holly was on her own, without parents and the gaggle for friends she used to have. They had all gone through a lot of changes in the last few months. Perhaps that was why he felt so drawn and close to his cousins. They were all facing the same battles he had. Only unlike them, he didn't have the protection and guidance of the elders and a Whitelighter on his side. He had to deal with the maturation of his powers and gifts completely alone.

* * *

><p>'Miss Marston!' Mr Giddens looked up and smiled wryly from taking attendance as Holly made her way into Homeroom, late. 'Would you be so kind as to show Miss Moore to the seat behind you?' Holly saw that Isla's daughter was stood awkwardly beside Mr Giddens's desk. 'It's an archaic system.' He added to the girl, 'but we sit alphabetically so as to relieve my poor brain on a Monday after a hard weekend of Whiskey sours and all nighters.'<p>

The class laughed. Holly gestured to the girl to follow her, which she did. Holly noticed that the girl was shorter than her, about five four, and much more attractive than she had seemed from far away. There were cute freckles splattered across her cheekbones and nose and her eyes were a beautiful hazelnut brown, flecked with gold and orange, like autumn. They were not the cold and harsh blue like her mothers.

They took their seats and Mr Giddens finished the register and the morning announcements, during which time he had asked Holly to be Miss Moore's guide for the next few days.

Holly reluctantly turned around to introduce herself. Did the girl know who she was? Was she going to pretend she didn't? Would she be like her mother?

'Hi, I'm Holly. You'll get used to Mr Giddens. He's this famous playwright and poet, quite a something on the literary scene. Always reading at _City Lights Books _like he's the next Ginsberg or something. He teaches AP sophomore English too.'

'I think I might have seen him in there.' The girl said uncertainly. She had a quiet, measured serious voice. 'Going to that store was one of the first things I did when I came to this city, I'm a massive Beat fan. I'm Riley.'

'Nice to meet you.' Holly found herself saying, detecting some awkwardness in her demeanour and wanting to put the girl at ease.

Riley then smiled at Holly, a smile that transformed her whole face. In it Riley displayed a warmth, sincerity and earnestness that went against her tough exterior and to Holly's immense surprise, she found herself liking Riley immediately.

'So have you just moved here?'

Did Riley know who she was? Did she even know who her _mother _was? What was a Whitelighter doing with a teenage daughter anyway? They were dead.

'Yeah. Just moved here.' She sighed. 'I've lived inSeattlemy whole life, so it feels pretty weird to be inCalifornia. We only moved last week. My Mom got reassigned a new case so she moved us down here.'

Holly detected a note of resentment.

'What, er, does your Mom do?'

'She's an attorney. My Dad's in travel journalism, he got transferred to the San Franciscooffice of _There's a World Out There _magazine_._'

She heard appreciation and affection for her father in her voice, but not for for her mother.

'Wow.' So that was Isla's cover. I wonder if Riley had any idea about magic. From the way in which she spoke Holly didn't reckon so. There was too much openness in her manner to suggest that she was hiding a secret life. 'My Uncle's a lawyer too. He works at my Dad's firm.'

The bell rang.

'What's your first class?' Holly asked as they exited their seats before questions about her dad could be raised.

'Uh…' Riley pulled out a schedule from her jeans pocket. 'History. Miss King.'

'Me too, I'll take you.'

'Thanks,' Riley said with relief. It was obvious Riley had thought she would be on her own during the whole 'getting to know a new school' process. 'This school's massive. I went to a small liberal arts school back home….I mean, where I used to live. Mom hated it. She chose this place.'

'It takes a while to get used to.' Holly commented as they made their way through the packed halls. 'There used to be uniforms but the last senior president passed a bill to scrap them. You're lucky, for Freshman year we had to wear horrible mock-sailor hats and pleated skirts. I seriously wanted to kill my parents.'

The rows Holly had had with Wyatt about the school during the first term were endless.

'Oh my God.' Riley said laughing, 'Now I see why Mom wanted me to go here!'

Not for the same reasons I do, thought Holly. Isla no doubt wanted Riley to go to the same school as her and her sisters to make sure that she could keep tabs on them via Riley. Not that she was pissed at Riley about this, it wasn't her fault.

'Hey Holly! Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?'

Holly groaned. She turned around to see Alexi standing there, grinning fakely at them. News about a new student must have hit her faster than sunburn to an albino.

'Riley Moore, this is Alexi Newberry.' Great. Holly thought as Alexi began a tirade about the ups and downs of the school. The one friend I may have and you want to take her away from me.

'Do you cheer?' Alexi was asking Riley with interest, although Holly could see right through her _nice girl _act. Holly could see that Alexi was sussing out whether Riley was cool enough to hang out with her. 'There's been a vacancy for a while now. Our head cheerleader

had some family drama and got grounded and banned by her totalitarian family. She completely ruined the make-up of the team but to be honest, we're so much better without her. She was selfish and had fat calves. And loads of people in her family _died_, I think it left her a little unhinged.'

Holly opened her mouth furiously but Riley was already answering.

'God no. I hate all that jock crap. I can think of much better things to do than cheer after intellectually vapid guys and bolster their already inflated egos. I don't want to be one of those girls who think that wearing a cheerleading uniform makes them the natural leaders and wonderful people of the school.'

Holly snorted with laughter, both from what Riley had said and from the look of shock on Alexi's face. Holly couldn't remember the last time Alexi had been put down like that.

'I see.' Alexi's lip curled. 'Well, just make sure you make friends here very carefully. This is something Holly has failed to understand of late.'

'Don't worry. I will.' Riley told her brightly.

'Sorry about that.' Holly said with embarrassment once Alexi had flounced away. 'Alexi can be-'

'A bitch?' Riley raised a pierced eyebrow.

Holly smiled weakly. Why does she still get to me? Every time Alexi came near her and spouted her venom Holly felt contaminated.

'Was she talking about you? Were you the girl who used to be on the cheerleading team?'

'How did you guess?'

Riley smiled slightly.

'She was looking right at you as she told me. In my old school I was known as dead girl too. When I was eight my Mom, younger brother and I went sailing and the boat capsized. My brother drowned and Mom was in a coma for weeks.'

'Oh my.' Holly's heart dropped with the sadness of it all. 'That's awful.'

Riley nodded.

'It was. But it made me real careful about who I make friends with. I lost loads of my friends after that, they didn't know how to deal with me. It made me real picky about who I hung out with. I'm guessing you went through something similar?'

'Yeah.' Holly sighed. 'Alexi and I used to be best friends. My parents were murdered in June and I was there when it happened.' Holly didn't know why she was telling Riley this. She had not even known her ten minutes. 'I fazed everyone out. I hated the sight of my cheerleading costume and I couldn't stand the idea of smiling idiotically for hours on end any more. My priorities changed. Alexi didn't understand that.'

'That sucks. Still. Do you still have that vacancy for a new friend? I'm a good baker and I won't make you smile idiotically.'

Holly laughed. What a strange world. Who knew she would have so much in common with Isla Moore's rebellious daughter?

'Sure. Maybe we can come up with some plan to dethrone Alexi from her perch while we're at it. Something tells me you have some cool tricks up your sleeve.'

'Ooh, goodie. Doing my part for the world of all that's good. My speciality.'

* * *

><p><em>So, what do you think of Riley? Do you think she's all that she says she is? Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think :)<em>


	31. Chapter 31

**CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE**

When the bell rang at 3.00 Riley Moore sighed deeply with relief. It had been one hell of a day. Added to the usual stress of finding her way around a new school and understanding the material each class was covering, she had discovered that most of her classes were too easy for her because the school hadn't put her in advanced placement lessons. Even though she had a stellar GPA she had struggled to get onto AP classes for Art History, English and French and had spent the best part of lunch trying to change the timetable the school had provided first thing that morning. It had meant that she had missed out on grabbing some food at lunch, and because she usually skipped breakfast in the mornings, she had felt faint and slightly sick for most of the afternoon. Her head was pounding and the argument she had with her mother at the beginning of the day was also on her mind, but what day didn't start without an argument with her mother? Riley had told her she would get the bus home, having researched the bus time table and drop-off and pick-up points the previous night, but her mother was having none of it. Her mother had grown up in virtual poverty in a bad area of Chicago and the idea of her daughter getting the bus rankled her because it reminded her of her miserable youth. Isla had worked extremely hard to get where she was, something she never failed to remind Riley whenever the opportunity presented itself. This morning was one of them. Isla had insisted on picking and dropping Riley off at school, an idea which horrified Riley. Firstly, she was not in elementary school anymore. Secondly, no one she knew back in Seattle had been driven to school. And then there was the dreadful notion of the twenty minute drive there and back alone with her mother, something Riley absolutely did not want to commit herself to. Typical of her mother, when Riley had told her that she was more than happy to get the bus Isla had tried to force Riley to accept the ride with her, stating that she wouldn't have refused a ride if she was her. This was something Riley had revolted against ever since she was little. Riley did not want to be anything like her mother, and there was no way she was going to be chaperoned to school like some perfect rich-kid Isla desperately wanted Riley to be.

She found her way to the bus easily, much like her way around the rest of the school which, despite her initial fears, was laid out simply and logically, built in a way to maximise efficiency. Although she hated to admit it, the Drew School was a decent school and the kids who went there weren't exactly the bohemian types she had hung around with back home in Seattle. The people on her bus home were quiet, either engaged in muted conversation with their immediate neighbours, listening to music or tapping away keenly on iPads. How she was supposed to make friends with these people she had no idea. She hadn't seen a single student with more than one ear piercing, let alone any wearing Doc Martens. And she had looked.

Luckily there was one girl who had friend potential. When she had got to her homeroom, the teacher had told a Hollister type to show her around. Despite her internal horror at the idea, the girl looked like an extra in 90210 for Gods sake, she had noticed a copy Dostoyevsky's 'The Idiot' poking out of Holly Marston's bag, making Riley curse herself for being so judgemental. To give her credit, the girl did seem to see past her own 'angsty/hostile' vibe and took to her role of 'Riley guide' with ease and enthusiasm. Riley soon discovered that Holly was witty, sharply intelligent and extremely welcoming and kind, although she was a bit guarded and hesitant when it came to things personal, something Riley connected with the tragic demise of her parents a few months previously. Riley's heart immediately warmed to the fellow sophomore, knowing what it was like to have personal tragedy dog you everywhere you went.

Not that she wanted to admit it to herself, since she was still harbouring an unhealthy amount of resentment toward her mother for uprooting her from her life in Seattle, she was happy to be away from the city that had taken her brother. James's death was something the family had never really recovered from, even though it had happened nearly eight years ago. But it was an event that had brought Riley closer to her father. In the weeks after the accident, when Isla had been in a coma, Patrick Moore had stalwartly supported Riley and they had been inseparable since, something that she knew contributed to her mother's increasingly distant and cold nature. Riley and her father went on holidays alone since her mother always had to work, and they had travelled far and wide, relishing in the Bohemian freedom, history and spontaneity of Europe, the easy-going mayhem South East Asia and awesome landscapes in Australia and New Zealand. She shared her father's enterprising and inquisitive spirit, and frequently marvelled at how someone so easy-going and carefree as her father could be with someone as controlled and _controlling _as her mother. Her dad had said that Isla had been different when they had met, something Riley couldn't really believe.

Riley and Isla had always had a difficult relationship, even before the boating accident. Riley had been a premature baby and had respiratory problems when she was born, but Isla had suffered severe postnatal depression which meant that early bonding between mother and child had not occurred. When Isla did recover and eventually give Riley love, Riley had resisted it and struggled out of her arms and cried. From then on Isla had tried to overcompensate but her efforts bordered on coddling and had further infused Riley's fiercely independent nature rather than strengthened the bond between them. When James had been born, Isla had got the closeness she had always desired from a child. James had been an affectionate, lovable and joyous baby where Riley had been surly and introverted. James had been the apple of Isla's eye, a gifted child, and although James and Riley had been close the bond between her mother and her brother had always made Riley a little left out, sad and jealous. When James had come along Isla had stopped making such an effort with Riley, something Riley had never really forgiven her for. When the accident had happened the wedge between Isla and Riley had increased. After she had awoken from her coma, Isla had been different. Riley had tried to comfort her and be there for her, to relieve the grief of losing James but Isla had pushed her further away. From then on she had become less of a mother and more of a live-in dictator, a constant critic on the way in which Riley conducted herself and led her life. Nothing Riley did seemed to be enough for Isla, and where these new expectations came from she didn't know. It made Riley angry and sad and rebellious and as she grew older and more aware of the kind of mothers her friends parents were Riley's attitude towards Isla had changed from one of constantly trying to please her to bitter acceptance. So what if she had an unapproachable, emotionally barren mother? She still had a great dad. And that was something a lot of people didn't have.

'Dad?' Riley called as soon as she got in. The bus journey to their new home in the Bay Area had taken half an hour with all the stops, a bit longer than it would've taken if she had accepted a ride from her mother. Riley knew she was doing her mother a favour anyway, as without having to travel to escort her to and from school it meant that her mom could spend more time in the office getting to know the staff and her new cases.

'Up here!'

Her dad's voice seemed to be coming from the attic, where he had set up his office. They had moved into a three story multimillion dollar art-deco townhouse. It was as far removed from their old garret as possible, all floor to ceiling windows, minimalist and stylish décor and masses of Scandinavian furniture. It was like living in an IKEA catalogue.

'Pumpkin.' Her dad immediately pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head as she came into his office. He had dark blonde hair that was always in need of a trim, curling at the back of his neck and behind his ears. He had the same hazel eyes as Riley but was taller and broad. There were boxes, books and magazines everywhere, his Mac was the only thing that Patrick had unpacked. 'How was your first day?'

'It was all right.' Riley shrugged, taking a seat on a box full of stationary. 'Managed to sort out classes in the end. The English teacher's great, looks a lot like your friend Jones, and he's also my homeroom tutor. He told me we're going to do _On the Road_ next term.'

Patrick nodded in appreciation, knowing it was his daughter's favourite book.

'Your mom called about ten minutes before you came in, told me to say that she wouldn't be home for dinner.'

'Right.' She wasn't even surprised.

'I thought we'd go out.' Patrick said, surveying her with his warm eyes. 'Mexican? A woman at work told me a great place to go.'

He had always been able to read Riley. It was one of the reasons why they were so close. He could always tell if his daughter was disappointed, hurt, happy or angry and he saw it as his own personal duty to rectify the situation. His job meant he had to travel a lot, something he didn't look forward to when he knew that Riley and his wife would be alone together doing their usual complicated thing. He still loved Isla as intensely as when they had first met in Paris when they were both travelling college students, but even he had to acknowledge that the Isla that lay next to him at night wasn't the same woman he had married eighteen years ago. His wife barely talked to him these days; she was secretive, closed-up and tightly wound.

'Great.' Riley smiled thinly. 'I'm starving.'

'Find any one worthy to hang out with?' He asked her next, knowing how difficult it had been for Riley to leave her close-knit group of friends at home.

'One girl from my homeroom seems OK. She's this ex-cheerleader, mouthy type with hidden depths.'

'Really?' Patrick raised an eyebrow, knowing Riley tended to avoid those sorts of girls at all costs.

'Yeah.' Riley nodded. 'She seems all right. The school has a clinical, prestigious vibe that might take some time to get used to though.'

'And the guys?' Patrick asked, smirking, knowing what his daughter's answer was going to be.

'Guys?' Riley exclaimed. 'Dad, I'm barely OK with how _I _am, let alone trying to adapt myself to some other person. You know that dating's the last thing on my agenda.'

'I know. But you know your mother wants you to bring home some future hedge fund yuppie.'

'She'll have to wait a looooooong time for that to ever happen.' Riley laughed.

Patrick reached out and messed up his daughter's hair affectionately. She may be an awkward enigma at times, but he was glad that someone in the family was in tune with how they felt. He had a feeling that his wife was going to burst one day from the weight of everything she was repressing.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry this one has been such a short chapter. Will post a longer one soon. <em>


	32. Chapter 32

**CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO**

On her way to her locker on Tuesday morning Holly saw that there was someone already standing in front of it waiting for her. Someone she hadn't spoken to for over a month and had absolutely no desire to associate with.

'What do you want?' Holly asked, hackles rising immediately as Danny Greenborough turned to smirk at her. It had been so long since they were this close to each other. He had had a haircut and he was wearing a different cologne, no doubt bought by Chelsea. It was overpowering and reminded her of his too-forceful personality. Holly was surprised that Chelsea wasn't there helping him barricade her locker, they were together displaying almost x-rated PDA so much it was as if they were joined at the hip.

'Hello to you too.' He folded his arms across his chest but made no effort to move out of the way. Danny was completely blocking her locker door.

'Er, I need to get in there Danny.' Holly told him impatiently.

'I know.'

'So are you going to move or am I going to have to make you?' Was she allowed to blow up mortals? Surely there was some sort of magical loophole that gave her permission to eradicate self-important, arrogant slime-balls off the face of the earth. She would give anything to wipe that stupid look off his face and what could be better than actually blowing it right off his face?

'Make me? You haven't got a violent bone in your body. You're all talk.'

This was true, and it irritated Holly that he knew her so well.

'Things change.'

'Too right.' There was something behind the way he said that which made Holly realise that he wasn't there to simply taunt her.

'What do you want?' She asked again but with more urgency this time. She wanted to be away from him. Far away. The sight of him was bringing too many bad memories to the fore in her mind.

'What's going on with you and East?'

'_What_?' That was what this was about? Her ex approaching her for the first time in weeks up to grill her about her relationship with Owen? 'What in the hell has that got to do with you?'

'I was just wondering if the rumours were true. I can tell from the look on your face and your defensiveness that they are.'

'And what rumours would they be?'

'Chelsea said she saw you out with East on Saturday. I had to make sure myself that it wasn't some hideous joke because there's no way that the Holly I know would ever dare be with a loser like that.' Danny set his jaw into a scowl, successfully communicating the level of his disproval.

'You're unbelieveable! You have no right to act possessive and jealous about who I hang around with, we're not together anymore. You were the one hooking up with Chelsea when were dating. If anyone has a right to be all up in arms it's me!'

The bell rang, signalling the beginning of lessons. But still Danny stood in front of her locker, making it impossible for her to get into it and grab her book. The corridor began to empty and soon they were left alone. Panic was beginning to rise within her as she realised just where Danny's mind was and what he wanted. He approached her predatorily, eyes steadfastly fixed on her face.

'Seriously, Holly. You're worth more than an arthouse geek. What do you see in him?' His voice dropped to a low murmur as he bent to whisper in Holly's ear. 'Can he touch you the way I used to? Does he know how to make you scream, make you beg?' His breath tickled Holly's ear, sending shivers down her spine.

Holly jumped away, her face red with mortification and anger.

'Don't come near me.' Holly said shakily. The truth was Danny had always been able to touch her buttons, to get through to secret parts of her. When they were together he had used her, possessed her and controlled her, knowing exactly how to make Holly breathless and become undone. And he knew it. She used to hate him for it.

'Why?' He ignored her demand and touched her elbows, drawing her into to the hard line of his frame. 'I _know _you Holly. I know –'

'You _don't _know me!' Holly removed herself from his grip, 'You…' She was struggling for words. Danny had always known how to disarm her, shatter her defences. 'Just go away.' She finished lamely.

'We were good together. We belong together' He told her, his eyes ablaze with a mixture of desire and ownership.

'We do not. You repulse me.' Holly used the opportunity to dart past him and access her locker. She retrieved her History book and closed her locker with such a speed that Danny didn't have time to blink. Just as she was about to turn and head to class, Danny's arm had seized the back of her throat. Holly's blood ran cold. Not in the middle of school…he wouldn't.

His other arm snaked around her and seized her by the middle.

'Danny.' Holly's voice contained none of the strength or resistance it had a minute before. Utter humiliation and self-loathing was emitting from every pore of her body.

'Let go of her.' Came a low voice. Holly and Danny spun around to see Riley Moore standing there next to them. Her face was as hard as stone, her kohl encircled eyes angry slits.

Danny let out a laugh and relaxed his grip, flinging Holly to the other side of the corridor. She fell in awkwardly against the line of lockers opposite, her arm catching on one of the locks and drawing blood, her _Young Stalin _book flying across the floor.

'There.' He said with triumph to Riley. 'Happy now…?' His eyes looked her up and down, his lips forming into another smirk as he assessed her character from her unconventional attire. 'Dyke?'

'Thrilled.' Riley replied, unperturbed by his comment and immediately going over to where Holly was cowering, putting a protective arm around her.

'First East, now this granola crunchie? God Holly…you used to have standards.'

Danny stalked away, chuckling to himself, his arrogant gait showing no visible remorse for his actions.

Holly seized her book from the floor, drawing it close to her chest protectively. She was shaking slightly.

'Are you OK?' Riley asked quietly.

Holly nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She had forgotten the way in which Danny used to terrify her. It happened rarely, but when it did the way in which Danny behaved made her certain that he was as far removed from the preppy, popular, jack-the-lad persona he had so carefully wrought for himself as humanly possible. He could be a monster.

'We should go to the nurse.' Riley said, gently touching the hand on the arm on which the cut was oozing.

'I'm fine.' Holly said, shrinking away from her touch and pulling her cardigan sleeve down over the gash.

Riley looked pained and angry, feeling for her.

'Did he ever hit you?' Riley guessed the Paul Walker lookalike was her ex.

'Once…'

'A friend of mine was in an abusive relationship. He completely broke her down. I know the signs. The guy used food as a weapon, after every argument he gave her chocolate, cake, whatever, to placate her. But it was just his way of feeding her up to make her unattractive to other guys, showing that he controlled everything about her.'

'Sex was Danny's weapon.' Holly told her quietly. She had never told any one the realities of her relationship with Danny. Not Alexi and no one anyone in her family. It was her secret shame she had wished to banish to the back of her memory.

Riley's eyes flashed.

'I hate guys like that. How they think they can treat a girl like…like…they're worthless. Like they _need _them to function. We're so much stronger alone.' She growled.

'I was delusional. When I found out he was cheating on me, that was the last straw. I haven't even spoken to him in ages. I don't know why he-'

'We should get to class.' Riley said authoritatively but kindly, knowing that Danny Greenborough deserved no more time in her thoughts, 'Come on.'

It was with admiration that Holly followed her new friend as she stomped toward History. The 'don't-mess-with-me' vibe and pure strength Riley was giving off was something that had clearly been passed down from mother to daughter. The thought of the unwanted similarity between Isla and Riley brought a faint smile to her lips, as she knew what it felt like to be compared to someone she didn't particularly like. Holly had lost count of the amount of times she had been told she was like Chris over the years.

* * *

><p>Lily was coming out of her French class when someone tapped her on the shoulder.<p>

She braced herself. Oh please don't let it be Darcy. Freddy had wanted her to eat lunch with him and his friends the day before but Lily had seen Darcy sat there with them. Lily had made her excuses and went to the tutor centre to rework some revision timetables for her Freshmen, but she could see that Darcy had wanted a confrontation from the way she had set her eyebrows in a fierce, superior raise. And under no circumstance did Lily want a confrontation with Darcy Chase.

'Lily, do you have a minute?' It was a male voice.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Lily turned to see Cal Whitepath stood behind her.

'Cal.' Lily stared at him in confusion. If Freddy was cool, he was alternative cool. Cal, on the other hand, was much cooler and more popular than all of his brothers put together. Which meant that he was also way too cool to be seen with a geek like her. Even if she was a grade ahead of him.

'Can we talk?' Cal asked again. Lily noticed that he was looking extremely nervous and uncomfortable. 'Poppy told me you have a free period now.'

'Yeah I do,' Lily said warmly, wanting to put him at ease. 'I normally head to the library. Do you want to talk there?'

'Yeah. Thanks.'

They fell into the same stride and made their way towards the glass atrium that was the library, a place Lily realised with a little regret, she spent way to much of her time in.

Lily cast Cal a covert look. He was devilishly handsome. His features were broader and more square than Freddy's more chiselled, refined looks and Brice's puppy fat and dimpled cheeks. He was also taller than her and extremely toned, obviously he was a regular at the 24 hour gym a few streets from the Whitepath house. Lily felt slightly unnerved walking with him; he was too coolly beautiful and aloof to make her feel entirely at ease.

Freddy, on the other hand, always went out of his way to make her feel comfortable. He was one of the most selfless and kindest people she had ever known.

Cal walked in the direction of the talking area and took a seat at a table in the corner, completely out of the way of any one else. Lily felt even more nonplussed. Was Cal luring her here to tell her to back off his brother? Maybe the fear about Darcy wasn't that stupid after all. Lily knew that Cal was right at the top of the school gossip machine, but surely Cal wouldn't believe she would play his brother?

'So,' Lily cleared her throat a few moments after Cal had refused to start speaking, choosing instead to look down and play with the frayed cuffs of his football jersey. 'Everything all right?'

'I guess,' Cal murmured. 'Well…no, actually, they're not. I was wondering whether you'd tutor me.'

Lily's eyes widened in surprise, but she made no further comment, waiting for Cal to continue. So this was why he wanted to talk in the most secluded corner of the library.

'I…I'm not doing as well in school as I should be and I think it's time I got some help.' Cal took Lily's silence as encouragement to go on.

'What subjects in particular?'

'Well…' Cal blushed slightly, 'All of them. My GPA is utter crap. I haven't had over a D since I was a freshman. Well, at least, I wouldn't have had if Brice didn't, er, help. Brice gets my grade to a D+ but without him.' Cal took a deep breath. 'Look, I'm failing. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I can even make it through the year.'

Lily's heart swelled with feeling. She wanted to help, the humiliation Cal felt at having to admit a weakness was clearly evident. How did Cal even manage to get into the school with grades like that? You to achieve a certain number on the entry exam to be allowed in, a test he had obviously passed two years ago. Did he cheat? What had happened to him to make his grades and confidence fall and shatter so much? Lily knew that with anyone else Cal would be lost. Cal was fierce, proud and temperamental and she could see immediately that with the wrong approach he'd be a lost cause. Special timetables and plans and routines were forming in her head already. It was a gift she had, she could always adapt her teaching to the individual in front of her effortlessly and with an astonishing creativity that no other tutor in the school possessed. The thing was she had no time during school. All her free periods were dedicated to other people. There were other tutors who could help but she knew that it wouldn't be pretty. Half the tutors had traditional 'by-the-book' teaching methods similar to the ones used in the school, which had obviously failed him so far.

'OK. Well, I'm actually fully tied up with my freshmen and sophomores.' She said awkwardly. 'The only way I could tutor you would be if we met in the evenings. I understand that's going to be an issue with football and stuff, so I'm really sorry. I don't think I can help you. I know several other tutors who have space, I'm sure that -'

'Evenings would be fine.' Cal interrupted. 'If that's OK? Football isn't as important as my grades. I can make time.'

Lily blinked. She hadn't expected that.

'Oh, sure.' What with training with Isla everyday after school from next week, the only time she could do was early evening. 'I'm busy after school until about half 6, since we normally eat around six, so we can meet in the library at 7-'

'Can I not come to your place?' Cal asked, his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

'You don't like the library?'

'Someone…someone might see us there.'

'Ah.' Lily finally understood where he was coming from. A wave of empathy swept through her. Of course Cal wanted to be discreet about it. 'Yeah that's fine, I mean...but what about Holly?'

Lily knew that Holly didn't have much love for Cal. The amount of times she came home from school complaining about what a 'sheep' he was and about how he lacked 'any original thought whatsoever', and that his brain was 'probably dying from all the hair gel fumes'. Lily could see that Holly really didn't know Cal that well at all but then again Lily had a suspicion that Cal had ever let down his defences enough to let anyone get to know him.

'Holly isn't the whole school. She knows how to keep a secret.' Cal said. 'I'd rather have you and your sisters know than Alexi or anybody. It just isn't worth the hassle. I'd never hear the end of it.'

Lily felt even more for him. What a lonely life Cal must lead if his friends didn't know the daily anguish he went through at school.

'I'd like nothing more to tutor you.' Lily told him gently, hoping she didn't sound condescending. 'I know you can get your grades up. If you're not on a B by Easter-'

'A B by Easter?' For the first time since they had sat down a glimmer of hope flashed across Cal's face. 'Seriously?'

'Why not?' Lily asked. 'I really believe you can do anything you want if you want it badly enough. And you obviously want it badly.'

Cal nodded with fervour.

'I really do.'


	33. Chapter 33

**CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE. **

Poppy was suffocating. A darkness was engulfing her, filling her lungs and making her gag, or at least it would if she could breathe. Blind panic and fear were overtaking every other sense. She had no idea where she was, but then again she had no memory and no recollection of herself. She was a body of sensation. Unpleasant sensation. Every pore of her being wanted to scream and cry for help. Cannot breathe. Did help exist? Was there any end to this black, empty void? Every minute was more and more agonising. She could not remember ever feeling this much fear before. Why was she here? Where _was_ here? Was this even a place? Could she reach out through this impenetrable mass and touch someone's mind? Whose mind was there? Did she even have a family? What was her name?

'Poppy?'

A voice. Familiar. So far away. Which direction did it come from? So faint. Did she imagine it? What felt like hands were touching her all over. Grabbing her, squeezing around her neck, making her even more light-headed.

'Poppy!'

More pressure. Internal now. So much darkness. She wanted it to end. Could she even die? What even came next? But something within her was telling her to remain. To stay. To gather strength. But what for? What would strength do?

'POPPY!'

And all at once it was gone.

Poppy gasped, such a gasp it was as she had just emerged from deep underwater for the first time in years. Air filled her lungs, replenishing her. Tears came next. And all of a sudden she was crying.

'Oh, thank God!'

Her senses were coming back. First touch, she could feel arms were around her. They weren't suffocating this time, they were comforting, caring, protective. Next was smell. She could smell woodsmoke. Brice.

She pulled away from his arms, still gasping, still struggling to find enough air to make her breathe; in order to look at him, implore him, demand answers. She could see again. Brice's face was ashen and his hair was dishevelled. His brown eyes alight with as much fear as was still dogging her.

Poppy looked around wildly, trying to gather more information. They were in her bedroom, both wearing their X-Men superhero pyjamas; his Wolverine, hers Rogue. It was dark outside. Night time. A dream. Was that all it was?

'What the hell was that?' Brice asked shakily. 'Are you OK?'

The tears had stopped. She felt brave enough to speak.

'I don't know.' Her voice was a fragile croak, it was as if she hadn't used it in a long time. 'What happened?'

'You were thrashing about. It woke me up. I looked over and but then you'd gone all rigid. I tried to shake you to wake you up, Pop, you were so cold. But you were sweating, it didn't make any sense. Your eyes, jeez, Poppy…they were completely white and rolling. It was like you were somewhere else, seeing things. Then you stopped breathing.'

'I stopped breathing?' Poppy's heart had turned to stone.

Brice nodded.

'I didn't know what to do. I kept shaking you but you were too cold to touch, it was like touching ice. I was so scared. Thank God you're all right!'

Brice's arms came around her again, squeezing her tightly. She never wanted him to let her go.

'I don't know Brice.' Poppy whispered into his shoulder. 'I don't know if I'm all right. I don't know what happened. It was only a dream right? But if it was only a dream…why did I stop breathing in real life? I mean...you know what I mean?'

'We should wake your uncle and great aunt and uncle up.' Brice told her.

Poppy shook her head. She didn't want to admit what had happened. She didn't want it to be any more real.

'They need to know what just happened. It wasn't like it was even evil. It was almost elemental…I don't know how to describe it. My grandfather used to tell us stories about elemental forces from other dimensions. This was like something from those. Maybe Phoebe knows something about it? Or Coop, I mean, he crosses into other dimensions all the time-'

'No. I…I just want to go to sleep.'

Brice could see that Poppy was wiped out. Her eyes were drooping, her body slumping over on itself. The dream, or whatever it was, had completely stripped her of her energy.

They led back down, side by side, Brice's hand firmly clasping hers. He held tight, wanting to make sure she was both OK and aware that she knew he was there for her.

Sleep came instantly and it was deep and dreamless. Yet two words kept whispering through it. The voice was from so far away it was as if it didn't exist. But they were still clear as freshly cut crystal.

'Help me.'

* * *

><p><em>Many apologies for the lack of updates. I've been travelling for 5 weeks and have only just got back. Your reviews, as always, are very much cherished and desired! :)<em>


	34. Chapter 34

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR**

…_.'Why are you freaking out?' Wyatt asked incredulously, 'It's a good thing that I'm going to college-'..._

…'_I will not have you living half way across the country Wyatt!' 'I need you here where I know you are safe'…_

…_.. 'Narrow minded am I?' Piper Halliwell exploded, 'There are daily attacks on the family! Excuse me if I don't want one of my sons to go away from the fold and get killed!'…..._

…_.'I won't get killed,' Wyatt told his mother, 'You, of all people, should understand why I'm doing this. You saw your powers as a curse, well, you don't have HALF as many powers as I do, and __I'm __the chosen one!'…'_

…_..Tell him he can go anywhere to college once this is all over!'…._

…_..'It may never be over,'….._

…'_FOUR YEARS?' Piper yelled, 'FOUR YEARS? We could all be dead before then. I cannot loose anyone else right now, Leo,'…._

…'_I've had enough of this,' Wyatt said, 'I thought you'd be happy for me. I got into Columbia, Mom. Columbia! I can finally get away from this life of demons and fighting evil and being this person I'm __so__ destined to become. I don't know who I am anymore. How can I find myself when you're pumping all this saving the world crap into me? Chris has accepted his fate, surely that's enough? I know I'm letting you down, but I'm not turning my back on the calling, which by the way I never wanted in the first place! I know I'm not going to be saving all these innocents, but don't you ever think that __I __need to be saved? I need to be saved from you Mom!'….._

…_.'I'm the one saving your life by making you stay with us!' Piper shouted….._

…_..'Wyatt,' Leo said in a grave voice, 'Think about this. I understand what you are saying, but consider what's going on while you're making this decision. No matter what you chose I will support you, but the moment you turn your back on your calling, the moment you embrace a mortal life, you can never call yourself a Halliwell, your mother's legacy...' …_

…_..'Little brother,' Wyatt said, laying a hand on his young brother's shoulder, 'Do whatever you think is right, but don't let Mom brainwash you into thinking that being a witch is all you are,'…._

'Uggggggh.' Lily moaned, sitting up in bed. It took a while for her to remember that what she had just seen was a dream. Or in fact, a dream of a retrocognition of a real event that had happened over twenty-five years ago.

Lily sighed deeply, scowling at the college brochures on her nightstand. 'Thanks.' She bit out in their general direction, blaming them for opening the can of worms she had so desperately tried to keep sealed shut.

Several things about the dream bothered her. For one, she knew that it couldn't be coincidence she was seeing all this again. College talks were rampant in her grade, applications were being considered, drafted and written and almost everyone was stressing about whether or not to apply to the Ivy Leagues. Lily had tried to avoid the college fever as best she could, it was something she couldn't deal with now alongside everything else but it seemed no matter what Lily did she couldn't suppress it from her subconscious. College was something she had always dreamed of ever since Great Aunt Paige had given her her first doctor's play set when she was younger. Lily was in a constant battle with herself. Being a witch complicated college plans. Her Great Aunt Phoebe had gone to college, but when she had found out she was a witch it complicated things, setting the degree back by years because saving innocents got in the way. Lily was in a predicament…did she go to college and turn her back on her calling? Or did she sacrifice her dreams and entirely give her self over to the magical side of herself?

Look what happened to her dad. He went to college amidst one of the biggest magical wars of the century. It hadn't turned out well for him. OK, he had his degree and finished top in his class, but he lost a considerable amount of his family in the process. Her grandparents had both been killed and the last time Wyatt had spoken to his parents had been in an argument. When she thought about it, Lily realised that Piper's reaction to Wyatt's college plans were out of character, at least from what she knew of her grandmother. Although fiercely motherly and protective, Piper had never been one to quash anyone's dreams; she hadn't stopped her sister Phoebe from going to work in China. Wyatt could always orb home to fight and be with the family whenever he wanted. So why had her grandmother overreacted so much? What was it she had said? '_I cannot loose anyone else right now'_….what did that even mean?

Everything about the dream was a punch in the face. It was all there; the choice between college and family, the idea that being a witch completely taking over your life, the constant threat and danger a magical life ensured, the innocents to protect, the reminder of the dreadfully short lifespan magic gave you….

She was living her father's history. But would she make the same decision as him? Was it as bad a situation? From the amount of things her uncle Chris and Phoebe and Coop kept from her she couldn't tell.

Lily looked at her alarm clock. She had woken before her alarm, meaning, she had enough time to grab breakfast. With the amount of school work she had and tutoring she had to do these days, she was always so tired she had to set her alarm a little bit later than she used to in order to make sure she could get some rest. Something was going to have to give, but even that meant sacrificing something. She couldn't let down her students. She couldn't let herself, they meant too much to her. She had her first session with Cal Whitepath tonight, she couldn't think about this right now. People needed her.

Lily wished her Mom was here. She would know what to say to her. Just to have her Mom hug her and tell her everything would be all right, that would be enough. Like with everything else, she put that thought to the back of her mind. She couldn't deal with missing her parents on top of the mountains of other things she had to deal with. She dressed quickly and headed onto the landing, where Holly was just exiting the bathroom.

'Morning Lil,' Holly yawned. She was still dressed in her pyjamas and her hair was a state. Holly was a heavy sleeper who could never remember her dreams. Lily wished she could be so lucky.

'Morning.' Lily forced a smile onto her face, lest Holly should become concerned about her.

'Go and wake Poppy, would you?' Holly asked on her way back into her bedroom, 'I'm running late and Eric'll kill her for holding us all up.'

'I'm not always in a bad mood.' Eric said as he appeared on the landing from his attic bedroom fully dressed.

Lily and Holly looked at each other.

'Oh yeah you are.' They said together.

'Har har.' Eric laughed humourlessly as he made his way down the stairs, 'And you've got half an hour.'

Holly stuck her tongue out in the direction of his retreating leather clad back.

'Can you get Poppy up?' Holly asked again.

'All right.' Lily knocked on her youngest sister's bedroom door. There was no answer.

She knocked again and waited a few moments before opening the door, knowing how Poppy got when you entered her private space. Even Holly in a mood was nothing on Poppy's protectiveness over her bedroom.

Poppy was still asleep but she was not alone. She and Brice were curled towards other, their noses almost touching and their hands holding each other over the bedclothes. Lily felt a pang run through her as she surveyed them. Their youthful innocence was fleeing them and being replaced by the adult knowingness of puberty that Lily knew neither of them wanted or were ready for. Poppy had always been as close to Brice as either of her sisters but that relationship was changing. Lily could tell by the way their hands were clasped together. Lily hated to think it, but it had to stop. They weren't ten years old anymore. Sharing a bed when you were teenagers just wasn't acceptable. Look at what it did to Dawson and Joey.

'Poppy.' Lily whispered, going over to her side of the bed and gently shaking her shoulder. 'Pops, come on, time to get up sleepyhead.'

'You have to tickle her feet.' Brice informed her sleepily, sitting up and stretching and shooting her his trademark grin.

'Seriously?'

'You know how impossible she is first thing in the morning. It works. Trust me.'

Lily trusted him all right; it was stupid not to trust someone who possibly knew her sister better than she did. The confidence in which he told her this also irked her slightly.

The information proved to be correct because the moment Lily tickled her sister's feet Poppy yelped and jumped straight out of bed.

'Thanks Brice.' Poppy threw at him with a scowl.

Lily noticed she seemed a bit out of sorts this morning, trying to put her slippers on on the wrong feet, putting her dressing gown on inside out.

'Have you seen my jeans?' Poppy asked from her wardrobe, looking around the room and then catching sight of them draped over her desk chair. 'Oh, never mind.'

'Are you all right?' It was then that Lily noticed the dark purple shadows under Poppy's eyes and her pale complexion. 'Have trouble sleeping?'

'Yeah, she-'

'I slept fine.' Poppy interrupted Brice, shooting him a pointed look that didn't quite pass her older sister.

Brice shrugged, found his clothes and took them to the bathroom with him to get changed.

'Poppy,' Lily could see that something was bothering her sister. 'What's going on?'

'Nothing.' Poppy snapped a little harder than she meant to. 'I've got a test in bio today that I'm crabby about, OK?'

Lily could tell she was lying.

'OK.' Lily said wearily, sad that her little sister felt like she couldn't confide in her anymore. Poppy had never kept secrets before, she was always so open. It wouldn't stop Lily trying though. 'I need to talk to you though.'

'What about?'

'Not now.' Brice came back into the room to grab his backpack. 'Later, at lunch? Come find me in the tutor centre.'

'OK.'

'What was that about?' Brice asked after Lily had left to make herself some breakfast.

Poppy shrugged.

'Who knows. Maybe she wants to tutor me or something.'

'I doubt that.' Brice said with a raised eyebrow. 'She's got enough on her plate, she's got barely enough time to see my brother. And anyway, you're unteachable.'

'Oh really?' Poppy demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

'Yeah.' Brice's face fell into a serious expression, 'You never listen. You need to tell Phoebe and Chris about what happened to you in the night.'

Poppy turned away.

'No. I don't.'

Brice felt like banging her head against the wall. Why was she so stubborn all the time?

'Yes you do. What if it happens again? What if there's no one here to bring you back from wherever it was you went to?'

'It's not going to happen again.' Poppy told him curtly. 'Because I'm going to find a way to stop it from happening again.'

'Oh, and how are you going to do that without the help of more experienced witches?' Brice scoffed.

Poppy shot him a withering look from over her shoulder.

'By reading the Book of Shadows. There has to be something in there to help me. Since I'm so used to invading other people's minds there's got to be a spell to stop something from invading _mine._'

* * *

><p>'Speed.'<p>

'Youth.'

'Sex.'

'Freedom.'

'Poetry.'

'Road.'

'Escapism.'

'Journey.'

'Voice.'

'Rebellion.'

'San Francisco.'

'Non-Conformity.'

'Hedonism.'

Holly was in third period English. Mr Giddens had moved the class onto a new topic, The Beats. He had asked the class to shout out words they associated with the movement, and then told them to be wary of his instructions and said they would come to question whether Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, et al were even part of a movement at all.

'Any more?' Mr Giddens asked.

'Outsider.'

The last one was from Riley.

'Good.' Mr Giddens smiled, running with her thread. 'OK. So, in your opinion, outsider from choice? Or outsider from the start?'

'Well for one thing, Ginsberg was gay. It was the 50s. What do you think?'

The class laughed. It was still only her first week but Riley had settled into school well. She had crossed paths with Alexi Newberry and won, so the school underdogs liked her. She was also unconventionally pretty and had a 'up-yours' attitude which made her unusual, generating interest and from the popular crowd. And the fact that she had settled into neither of these camps, preferring instead to fly solo or hang out with Holly Marston, the girl who went from the all-powerful elite to the bottom of the radar, had meant that she had successfully alienated herself away from the consuming clique drama that went with American High School life.

'So it was a reaction against the way America treated minorities?'

'I didn't say that. I'm just saying some things you have a choice in, others you don't. They wanted to use their outsider status and turn it around, give it power, find meaning in it.'

'What about homosociality…does that come into it?' Mr Giddens pressed, thrilled to see a student who clearly knew her stuff and wasn't afraid to show it. Until Riley had arrived, Holly Marston had been the only one in his sophomore AP literature class that had anything worthy to say.

'Sure, but it's nothing literature hasn't seen before. _On The Road's _Dean and Sal were a 20th Century Holmes and Watson.'

'It's a good comparison but it's too simplistic. The level of homosociality in _On The Road _was new. It was repressed in the published book but it was there in the early drafts. It introduced and touched new levels of masculinity in literature that hadn't been seen before, and that was both uncomfortable and invigorating for America.'

'Not everyone got into the Beats though.' Holly interjected, her own personal feeling coming through. 'They weren't ready for it.'

'Very true,' Mr Giddens smiled. 'OK, can any one think of anything else?'

'Failure.' This was from Holly. She'd read _On The Road _two years ago and hadn't been hooked. Although she could admire the form and the innovativeness of the writing itself, she didn't see anything in the actual story. She didn't see exaltation in it, any love for life or celebration… only failure, never ending restlessness, existentialism, loss and emptiness.

'The "_senseless nightmare road_".' Owen put in.

'Exalted exhaustion.' Riley again.

Mr Giddens smiled round at them all. Nothing compared to a class full of engaged students, well _nearly _a whole class full of engaged students. Cal Whitepath was also looking around the class, hesitant and uncharacteristically nervous. As always, he hadn't contributed to the class discussion. Mr Giddens could tell Cal wanted to get involved but that he felt that the discussion was well out of his comfort zone. He wished something would change that. Although the papers he had received from him so far this term had been well below the standard he expected from him, something in him told him that Cal was a bright kid whose main problem was that he just didn't believe in himself enough. At the beginning of the year when he was picking students to go into his advanced placement class, he had chosen Cal as his annual wildcard. He took a chance on one kid every year, the kid with bad grades and attitude, with the goal of turning them around. So far he hadn't succeeded but he knew that Cal had it in him. Hopefully the battles of the Beat Generation could inspire him to overcome his own demons.

'Phew, _On The Road…_It's a heady book, and a complicated one. One that we'll tackle in a few weeks and which hopefully can shed some light for those who are still unsure about it all.' Mr Giddens admitted. He laughed, 'I love how I say _The Beats _and most of you think _On the Road. _Hopefully the next few weeks will teach you that there's more to this period in American Literature than Kerouac. He's a great starting point though. In fact an early reviewer called him the movement's "principal avatar", quite an interesting statement considering that another critic said that the Beat Generation "consisted of only three or four people". The reading list's on the door. I'm splitting you guys into groups of two and after we come back from Christmas you'll all do a presentation on a specific piece of literature of your own choice. It can be a poem, documentary, novel, novella…whatever you want. And because it's nearly Christmas I'll let you guys choose your own partners. There's a sign-up sheet on the back of my door next to the reading list, make sure you choose your partners quickly so you get dibs on your favourite work.'

The bell rang.

'OK!' Mr Giddens cried above the din of 20 students scraping back their chairs and gathering belongings into their bags, 'That's it for today. Your homework's on the board, continue researching and start reading and make sure you choose your partners well, it's a shared grade!'

'So, want to work together?' Riley asked Holly immediately as they made their way to their next class.

Holly grinned. She had been about to ask Riley the same question.

'The two best people in English working together? Are you sure that's fair…we ought to give the class a chance.'

'I think we'll be great together. I mean, from the sounds of it I've got a lot to teach you in the ways of Kerouac-'

'Hang on, what makes you think I want to work on Kerouac? Perhaps I want to do _Naked Lunch_.'

'You're kidding me,' Riley said, smiling widely. 'If you found _On the Road _difficult, there's no way you're going to find _Naked Lunch _on par with _The Hungry Caterpillar. _

'She's right,' intoned Owen, joining them as they made their way to French. 'It's an awful book.'

'It's not awful! It's challenging, different-'

'It's a manifesto about drugs and sex. It's boring.'

'I'd be interested to know what you find exciting, then,' Riley rolled her eyes playfully.

'Certainly not that self-important drivel.'

'All right you two.' Holly laughed as Riley opened her mouth furiously to protest her case. 'I'll do _On the Road_ with you Riley, we should write our names down before it goes.'

They made an abrupt about turn and headed back in the direction of their English class. The rest of their class had gone but one person was stood in front of the sign-up sheet, looking at it with such intensity it was as if he was trying to find the meaning of life on there.

'Having trouble choosing, Cal?' Holly asked. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen Cal interested in something other than football. And they had been in the same classes since the fourth grade.

'No,' At the sound of someone speaking to him Cal jumped a mile in the air and turned his back to the door.

'Well, _On the Road's_ gone as of now, bad luck.' Riley took a pen from her bag and signed her's and Holly's names to the sheet.

'Well, well, well.'

The four of them turned to see Mr Giddens stood in the hallway behind them. A renowned night-owl, he already had his next cup of steaming coffee in his hand to get him through the next class.

'Can't keep you away it seems.'

'We were just signing up,' Riley explained.

'Ah. Should have known you'd pick _On The Road_.' Mr Giddens grinned, 'What did you and Owen chose, Cal?'

'We're…we're not working together.' Cal stammered, looking down at his feet, visibly the epitome of uncomfortable.

'Why not?'

'We, we…er…' Owen struggled out, but he couldn't quite put _because we can't stand each other_ into words.

'Why don't you guys do _Howl_?' Mr Giddens suggested. 'It's a great piece of writing, probably my own personal favourite to come out of that period in literature.'

'I don't think I…' Cal wanted to say _I don't think I can_. He had looked at half the reading list on Wikipedia and knew with a heavy heart that it was all way out of his league.

'I think you both could really get something from it.' Mr Giddens pressed. 'I know I said I'd let you both choose but I think you both would make a good team.'

Mr Giddens knew that Owen would actually be the perfect partner for Cal. He knew the two boys hated each other, he'd have to be blind to completely miss those vibes, but he also knew that Owen would make him do the work and Cal would try really hard not to give Owen the upper hand in any way that he would actually _do _the work. And well.

Owen and Cal looked at each other sceptically. The only time they had ever been forced to work together was in P.E. and Cal had never chose Owen to be in any of his teams. Owen had always tried to make sure Cal paid for it, but he could never beat him in any sport. Cal owned sports, and as much as he hated to hand it to him, he probably made the right choice by _not _choosing him to be on his teams. Owen sucked at any sport that involved hand-eye-coordination…i.e. all of them.

'OK. Sure.' Owen said reluctantly. If there was one thing he was good at, it was his other classes. He'd finally get to show Cal.

Cal groaned inwardly. That was just what he needed. _More _people knowing about how dumb he was. His first lesson with Lily was tonight, he would have to make sure they started on English first.

The second bell rang.

'OK you guys, chop chop. Next classes you go. I don't want Mademoiselle Guerin on my case.' Mr Giddens winked at them as he headed back inside his classroom.

Cal hurried off without a snarky comment or disparaging look, leaving very confused Owen, Holly and Riley in his wake.

'Did I imagine that? Are you actually working with Cal? Willingly?' Holly asked in a daze.

'You didn't imagine it.'

'Mr Giddens totally snowballed you.' Riley chuckled. 'Come on, we're _really _late for French now.'

'Holly, I need to talk with you.' Owen murmured, taking her wrist gently before she could follow Riley to their next class.

She looked at him in surprise.

'_That _sounds ominous. We can't talk now anyway, we've got to get to class.'

'Next period, then?' Owen asked. They both had a free period after French and always sat with each other to start their homework together in the library.

'OK.' Holly was beginning to feel more and more concerned. It looked serious, whatever it was that Owen had on his mind. 'So, er, what do you want to talk about?'

Please don't break up with me, Holly thought.

'Danny.'

Oh no. That was _much _worse.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry if the change in the story name has confused a few people. I've been thinking for some time now that 'Charmed Once Again' sounds a little too generic, and I thought 'The Burden of Legacy' was a bit more in keeping with what the story is trying to say. <em>


	35. Chapter 35

**CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE**

'You didn't take it to school with you, did you?' Brice asked in concern.

Poppy gave him a scornful look mid note taking.

'No, I didn't.' She flipped the cover of the leather bound atlas and held it up in front of her, 'Does this look like the Book of Shadows to you?'

'No,' Brice admitted, folding his arms across his chest.

'I'm doing Geography homework. Which you should be doing too, by the way.'

'I'll do it later.' He grumbled. Brice dug into his bag and brought out his sketchpad, pencil, his iPod and headphones.

Poppy sighed. He'd been in a mood with her since they'd come to school. He had kept nagging her to stop denying what had happened to her the previous night but she had completely shut down. She didn't want to talk about it because it was constantly on her mind. The 'help me' was whirring through her head, over and over and over again. She was going to go crazy with the unknowing of it all. Thank God for homework.

Or at least, thank God for the pretence of homework. Unbeknownst to Brice Poppy had hastily copied out a few spells before school with the hopes that they could help her identify the person in need. She hoped they would because she was well intent on giving them a piece of her mind for nearly killing her when they tried to contact her. There wasn't anything specific concerning a 'creepy-dream-stranger-who-stops-you-breathing-when-asking-for-you-to-help-them-whoever-they-are', but there was a lost and found spell, a spell to draw out secrets and another spell that gave wisdom to those who need it. She would have had more time to look if Eric hadn't interrupted her on his way into his bedroom for socks and yelled at her to get out of his room. Poppy would have to have a word with Phoebe about moving the book out of the attic and into a more communal place, like the conservatory.

Then again there was always the homework Isla had set her and her sisters to prepare for their first training session. _Practice__your__powers._

That would probably be a good place to start. After all, her powers of telepathic communication meant she was able to reach out and connect with another person's mind based on their essence. The thing was whoever it was that contacted her in the night had barely left a trace of themselves in her mind, meaning that she didn't really have much to go on. She couldn't even tell if they were male or female, much less a witch, warlock, demon or innocent.

Maybe Brice was right, maybe she _should_talk to someone about this. But Phoebe and Coop were so busy these days, and she didn't trust Isla enough to let her and Lily and Holly would be as useless as she was. And then there was the fact that she didn't even know what had happened to her in the night. It sounded so stupid, no, it _felt_so stupid. What was the point in telling anyone anything until she knew something concrete, something certain?

She looked at Brice as she thought all of this. He was scowling as he drew the latest in a long line of comic book figures. Today it was Storm and boy did she look angry.

Poppy was about to start apologising to him, she hated being on bad terms with Brice, when someone fell into the seat next to her.

'Hi Poppy.' It was her sister, Lily. 'Is it all right to talk now?'

Ugh! What was with everyone wanting to _talk_all the time?

'I'm kinda busy…' Poppy said, gesturing at the 'fake' homework spread out in front of her.

'It won't take long.' Lily persisted optimistically.

'OK.' Poppy got up from her seat. 'Be back in a minute.' She told Brice, who just grunted in reply and didn't bother to look up from his drawing.

'Is he all right?' Lily asked as soon as they had exited the work area of the library and had sat down in the 'talking' section.

'Who, Brice? Yeah, he's just annoyed at me.'

'Why?'

'Oh…uh…you know, I got all of the credit in our Biology project and he feels a bit pissed off about it.' She lied with some remorse. Lying was becoming so easy for her.

'Poppy.' Lily scorned, frowning. 'You did correct Mrs Zanicki on that, right?'

'Yeah. So, uh, what's up? Why do you have to talk to me?'

Anything else I've done wrong? Poppy wanted to ask but she bit her tongue. She couldn't have Lily annoyed at her as well.

'I just wanted to see how you're doing. Isla's coming over this Sunday and I wanted to see how you are with it. We don't get to talk that often any more. I miss you. And I know something's going on, you've got deep shadows under your eyes. What's keeping you up, Pop? Can I help?'

Poppy looked down at her hands. Her fingernails were bitten right down, unlike Lily's perfectly manicured hands across the table from hers. It wasn't fair. If Lily had worries they sure weren't manifesting themselves on the outside, unlike the way hers did with the 'deep shadows' and disgusting nails.

'Nothing's going on…just the usual stuff, I guess. School's better, I don't feel as much of a loser as I did at the beginning of term. My grade's are improving and I'm enjoying my classes a lot more. I suppose this Isla stuff's on my mind, yeah. I haven't been practising my powers as much as I should. I keep forgetting and homework gets in the way.'

'Oh Pop, all you have to do is find a compromise.' Lily said confidently, visually pleased that Poppy was finally confiding in her again. 'It's hard for me too, what with tutoring and college prep and everything. You're quite good with the telepathy already, I'm sure a few mind delves here and there will bring it all back.'

'Do you think Isla will teach me how to communicate with someone without rendering them unconscious?'

Lily laughed.

'I'm sure of it. If Isla's about anything it's about keeping our status as witches on the down low.'

'Good. Because I think that's what's putting me off. Every time I contact someone for more than three seconds I knock them out, which makes me feel guilty. Remember that time I contacted you in an exam?'

'How can I forget? But it was only that one time, don't be so hard on yourself. You've gotten much better since then.'

'Yeah, but then how am I supposed to subtly interrogate demons if they're going to fall over in front of their demon overlord and alert them to the fact that witches are close by? Because I'm pretty sure my powers aren't just there for me to contact my sisters with the weather report. They're supposed to be there to help protect innocents.'

'I guess Isla's "keep practising" is meant to help with that. The more you become _at__one_with your powers, the easier it will be to overcome the snags and teething problems and protect those pesky innocents.'

'I don't think I'll ever be ready for that, Lily.' Poppy said, on a roll with the truths now. This was why she hated talking, once she got started she found it really hard to stop. 'I'm fourteen. _I__'__m_still an innocent. Phoebe, Grams, Paige and Prue were in their twenties before they were thrust into this life. What did we do to deserve this?'

'I can't answer that Poppy, you know I can't.' Lily sighed; this had been playing on her mind too. 'Isla hopefully will provide some answers when we have our first training session.'

'Can't wait.' Poppy said dejectedly.

'Hey, don't worry.' Lily placed a hand on Poppy's forearm and squeezed. 'We've got more help than Grams and her sisters had. We're _lucky_.'

'I really miss Mom.' Poppy said, shamefully aware that tears were prickling the backs of her eyes now.

'I know.' Lily said softly. 'Me too. Why don't you practise your powers on Eric when we get home?' Lily suggested. 'If you're concerned with being subtle, I'm sure he'll have a few tips to help you out regarding listening in on demons.'

That wasn't a bad idea actually.

'Yeah! I might do that. Thanks, Lil.' Poppy got up from her seat and went over to hug her sister.

Brice was right, talking _did_help. OK, she hadn't told Lily about the innocent from the night before, but she had revealed to her some of the things that were bothering her. That was something, right?

'That's OK. How much longer of this free period do you have?'

'Only 10 minutes.'

'You'd better get back to work, then.' Lily pulled away from the hug and smiled at her youngest sister. 'I've taken up enough of your time as it is. I'm supposed to be meeting a new pupil in here as well in a minute.'

'_Another_one?' Poppy cried exasperatedly, 'Lily, you're going to wear yourself out.'

'I know, I know. But this one's a special case. He really needs it.'

'They're lucky that you care about them so much.' Poppy smiled at her sister over her shoulder as she headed back upstairs.

'Have fun?' Brice asked Poppy as she sat down at their table again.

'Yeah, we just talked. Mostly about the first session with the Whitelighter on Sunday.'

'Oh…' Brice looked apologetic. 'I forgot about that.'

'Look, about earlier…' Poppy began but then she saw a familiar figure coming up the stairs. 'Hey look! It's Cal! Didn't think he knew where the library was.'

'Crap, hide me!' Brice cried as he slid from his seat to duck under the table.

'Why?' Poppy laughed.

'I forgot to do his English research yesterday! The sophomores have started work on the Beats, I was supposed to print off some research for him but I went over to yours, didn't I! He's going to kill me if he sees me.'

'No, he won't.' Poppy told him, still giggling. 'And anyway, how hard is it to look on Wikipedia? I'm sure Cal's capable of that.'

'Pfft.' Brice snorted. 'Is he still there?' He whispered.

'He's looking at the English books. See? Told you he can do it by himself!'

Just as Poppy was watching him rifle through a book called "Beginners Grammar and Punctuation" someone else joined him in the English Section, her sister Lily. As she watched them converse in undertones and take numerous books off the shelves, confusion was soon replaced by understanding as the penny dropped. Calvin Whitepath was Lily's "special case". He had obviously taken her suggestion for a tutor seriously when she told him to ask her sister to help him with his dyslexia. Poppy felt her heart swell. She had no idea Cal could be so sweet as to listen to her and follow her advice.

'It's all right.' Poppy dipped her head under the table to look at Brice. 'Cal's not going to need your help any more. Look.'

She gestured over to where Cal and her sister were standing.

Brice looked as confused as she was a minute before.

'Lily's tutoring him!' Poppy informed him exasperatedly. 'Which means no more extra work for you! Isn't that great?'

Brice's face darkened and he begun to sketch again, without another word and covering the page with harsh, thick shades of charcoal so that Storm's battle with Magneto was now taking place in what looked like a black hole rather than a shopping mall.

'What's wrong?'

'Nothing.' Brice snapped.

'Come on, there's something bothering you. Tell me.'

'No. Talking's not going to help. Just drop it.'

The irony was not lost on her.

'OK then.' Poppy said, throwing her palms up into the air. 'Matter dropped.'

Poppy settled back into her notes once more but her mind was somewhere else. Or rather, her mind was _purposefully_going somewhere else…to Brice's.

She had never tried this. She had never tried to contact with someone without them knowing. She had always had a suspicion that she could "read minds" but she had never thought she was capable of it. Inspired by her talk with Lily, Poppy wanted to try and reach into Brice's mind to discover what was bothering him. She knew she was breaking a million of the "friendship/privacy rules" but her curiosity was overwhelming, both from the need to see if it actually worked and to see if she could find out what had turned Brice's smile upside down.

It took a surprisingly short amount of time for her to breach Brice's thoughts. It was nothing like "reading" a mind though, it was almost as if she was watching it, observing his thoughts as they formed and manifested at an alarmingly fast and complex rate. It was fascinating. And the best thing about it was that he hadn't been knocked out, meaning that he had no idea what she was doing.

_I hate him. Why does he always do this? It's like he has to have everything of mine. Why can't he leave Poppy alone? Why now? He's NEVER wanted help before now. It's just some ploy to get closer to Poppy. I just know it. I know he's in love with her. I can tell. Every time he's near her he picks on me a little bit more, showing off, trying to look like a big man. He's so pathetic. As if she…I dunno. If Mom…Christ, Lily's…Oh God. What if Lily tutors him at home? He'll be around her more! What am I going to do? He's been in love with her ever since…_

The shock of what Brice was thinking, which she found unbelievable and extremely ludicrous, made Poppy wrench herself away from his mind at such a speed that she actually fell backwards off her chair.

Brice looked up from his sketchpad to see Poppy sprawled on the floor.

'All right down there?' He asked, a smirk playing at the corners of his full lips.

Poppy glared at him and started to get back up but arms were already under her armpits and helping her to her feet.

She could tell from Brice's face that whoever it was that helped her up was someone he wasn't that fond of.

'Are you OK?' It was Cal. His arms around Poppy's waist now.

'Yeah! I…I'm fine. Just being my clumsy self! Hahaha!' Poppy said with too much false bravado in an effort to cover up her discomfort.

'She's up now, Cal.' Brice snarled. 'You can let go of her.'

'Oh…' Cal dropped his hands as if she was white hot metal. 'Yeah, sorry.'

Poppy turned to look at him. A blush had swept under the sharp planes of his cheekbones. Remembering what Brice was thinking only a few moments before made her blush too.

Was it true? Cal had only ever been mean to her; she found it hard to believe any nice or romantic feelings were embedded in his animosity.

Brice noticed Poppy's blushed cheeks and his eyes flashed. Oh no! Poppy thought, he doesn't think I like Cal, does he?

Lily came over with a raised eyebrow.

'Are you guy's all right?' She asked, trying to hide a smile as she observed the monumental awkwardness in front of her.

The bell rang.

Thank God! Poppy thought as she scrambled her stuff together and hurried down the stairs towards Geography, not even bothering to wait for Brice. Saved by the bell!

Her joy was short-lived, however. She tripped on the bottom step of the stairs and went flying and landed in a sprawl, her books and bag soaring out of her arms and landing five feet away from her. "Just being my clumsy self", indeed. The whole library erupted with laughter, and before anyone had a chance to hoist her to her feet, Poppy had scrambled up off the floor, retrieved her belongings and fled. The laughter still ringing in her ears as she ran down the hall, Poppy didn't think she had ever blushed as fiercely as she had in that moment. Little did she know the slip of paper she had hastily written down a few spells on earlier that morning had slid from the Atlas when she fell, waiting to be picked up by any unsuspecting and curious mortal.

* * *

><p>After their French lesson finished, Owen and Holly made their way towards the school gates. They had decided to take a walk around the park just outside of the school instead of talking in the library or on the playing field. Owen hadn't given any hint as to precisely what he wanted to talk to Holly about and they walked out of the school boundary in silence.<p>

Holly was a bucket of nerves. Had Danny said something to Owen? Or, God forbid, had they got into a fight? Owen didn't look messed up or bruised. The lump that was going down on the back of his head was a remainder from their date on Saturday. The sight of it made Holly uncomfortable. She _felt_something for Owen, something different, something intense and scary, and Eric's 'don't-date-mortals' mantra had been churning in her mind ever since she'd heard it, even more so in light of recent events. She couldn't bear it if something else happened to Owen, something fatal. But this was something she was going to have to think about if they were together. It was an inevitable consequence of his association with her, a "Charmed One". Paige had married a mortal, but they had divorced, and Grams had broken up with her boyfriend Dan, a mortal, in order to be with Leo, a Whitelighter. Could there ever be a successful relationship between a witch and someone non-magical? Could she break the cycle?

'Where do you want to sit?' Owen asked, breaking into Holly's reverie.

'By the oak tree? It's pretty over there.' Holly suggested. She wrapped her arms around herself defensively, readying herself for the blow of whatever it was that he was going to throw at her.

In the short amount of time she and Owen had grown close, he had changed her. He had stripped her armour, the veneer of coolness and the wall she had built after her parents had died. He had made her come to terms with her old passions, such as reading and swimming, that the onset of puberty and "popularity" had beaten down because they were too "uncool".

'Why didn't you tell me about Danny?'

'What about him?' Holly couldn't look at him so she looked at her knees instead. They were shaking. She put her hands on them to stop them shaking.

'About how things really were with him.'

'What do you mean?' Holly's heart started to beat faster with anxiety. What had he heard? She looked at Owen then to find not anger or irritation there, but graveness and compassion.

'Yesterday, in the locker rooms after basketball, I heard him talking. About you. About us. He was saying that he tried to talk you that morning but you weren't having it, it sounded like he wanted to get back with you. That the thought of us together was driving him mad. He was telling Jon how he pushed you into some lockers. Is that true?'

'He was getting all up in my face about you. He started yelling at me about the fact that I'm with you.' Holly said uneasily, unsure of how Owen would take it. 'He…he said that he thought we should get back together. I told him to go to hell. He…he didn't like that.'

Owen's jaw clenched in anger and his green eyes flashed behind their tortoiseshell glasses frames.

'They were talking about it in the locker room?' Holly asked. Was she Danny's joke now? She felt so humiliated, especially since it was coming from Owen. It was one thing for her last relationship to be a disaster, much less for her new one to be heading down the same road.

'It was all I could do not to go over and punch him, I felt so angry. He was boasting about how he used to put you in your place all the time. I can't believe he would ever lay a hand on you. I really can't. Why didn't you ever say anything to me?'

'Why would I?' Holly laughed bitterly. 'Hey boyfriend, my _ex_-boyfriend used to use me as a punch bag for his own amusement. And one time, he pushed me down the stairs and I had to tell my parents that I fell off the pyramid in cheerleading practice as a cover story.'

'You're kidding me?' Owen asked hollowly.

'No.'

'He also mentioned a party you all went to at the end of Freshman year, something about skinny dipping and-'

'Oh no.' Holly groaned, hiding her face in her hands. He wasn't talking about that? She could kill him. Aside from walking in on her parents' last moments, that had been one of the worst experiences of her life.

'What happened?' Owen pressed, seeing how much it was torturing her. Why hadn't she confided in him about Danny? Did she not trust him enough?

'I…I saw him with Chelsea in Alexi's hot tub at the party she held on the last day of school. They were having sex. I confronted him about it later. Chelsea and I had been quite good friends up until that point, up until I caught her cheating with my boyfriend at least twice a week. I tried to break up with him. But he wouldn't let me. He…he…he sweet talked me into staying with him. He…we…we had sex in Alexi's parents bedroom, I didn't want to but he…made me. Later that night we all went for a drive to the beach and went skinny dipping, me, Danny, Alexi, Jon, Chelsea, Xander Whedon. They all dared me to swim out and climb onto a rock that's quite far out to sea, y'know, because I'm a good swimmer. So I did it. Because I could. Because I wanted to show how strong I was. I guess I wanted to prove I wasn't a pushover to Danny and Chelsea. Anyway, I reached the rock and I turned around to wave but they weren't there any more, in the sea or on the beach. They had left me there. They had taken my clothes and driven back without me.'

Holly had never told anyone this before.

'Bastards.' Owen looked visibly horrified by the story. He placed his arm around her and placed his free hand around hers. 'Oh, Hol. How did you get home?'

'There was a small cottage nearby. I asked if I could use their phone. They thought I'd been raped, I told them that I hadn't been and that my friends were just messing about, joking around. The woman gave me some clothes. So I rang my dad and I pretended I was really drunk and that we had all gone to the beach and I had passed out.' Holly carried on miserably. 'When Dad picked me up it was horrible. He didn't have to say anything but I know he was disappointed. It was just the latest thing in a string of wild things I'd been doing lately. I knew I was worrying them. But I couldn't tell them the truth, could I? So I played the part, I played the part of the wild girl who was playing with fire, who got drunk all the time, put herself in danger, hung around with the wrong crowd. I played it well. And that's how they'll remember me.'

'No, they won't.' Owen said fiercely.

He pulled Holly close and tightly, enveloping her in his warm arms. He could feel her tears soak into the sleeve of his t-shirt. If only he'd known how things had been. He would have done something, anything. He would have stepped up sooner. He'd had a crush on her for years, hating the fact that she was with popular guys, but still he'd loved her. Holly was always the girl he had dreamed of being with, confident, strong, wily and as mysterious to him as a Femme Fatale in a Film Noir. But this girl in front of him was nothing like the image he had built up in his head. She was fragile. Defensive. Scared. In need of protection and love. She broke his heart, but he knew that _this_was the real Holly. And this was the one he wanted. More than anything, he wanted her. He wanted to show her what love was like. Pour some of it into her, fill her with warmth and renew her, banish the awful things that had happened to her and build something with her.

The strength of his feelings for this girl frightened him. But he wouldn't shy away from them, as he had shied away from her for so long, hiding behind his cruelty towards her and bullying. Owen would be the guy she needed. He _could_be.

Owen kissed Holly's hair and smoothed his hand through it and up and down her arm.

'I'm sorry, Holly.' He said. 'I'm sorry you had to go through that. It's not like that with us. It will never be like that with us.'

'I know.' She said quietly.

'No.' Owen wanted her to believe him. 'I promise you. I'll never lay a hand on you or make you do things you don't want to do. I respect you way too much to do that. I…I love you Holly.'

He knew it was way too early to be saying things like that. They'd only had their first date, their first kiss, their first official 'anything' on Saturday. But…it was how he felt.

Holly drew away slowly from him. Her aqua-marine eyes were ringed with red from crying and her hair was messed up from where she had been smushed up against him. She was a mess, but she was _his_mess. And he would do his best to clean her up.

'I love you.' Owen repeated, this time with more conviction.

Holly looked taken aback.

'No one's ever said that to me before.' She told him. 'No guy at least.'

How could he persuade her that it was true? Owen took her face into his hands and gently kissed her on the corner of the mouth, the place where her jaw line met her neck, her wet eyelid. He'd seen it in _Amélie_ and he'd always wanted to do it.

'You got that from a movie, didn't you?' Holly chuckled, touching her forehead to his.

'Would you kill me if I said yes?' Owen asked.

'No.' Holly touched her lips to his. 'I'd ask if you'd watch it with me.'

* * *

><p><em>OK, that chapter went places I didn't anticipate so I took a chance and rolled with it. Hope it paid off! I really want to thank everyone who has posted such supportive, constructively critical and inspirational reviews. Most of you are authors yourselves so you know how much a review motivates you to keep with the story and build on it. I really want to make it good for you all, and you're really helping me make this story great. I couldn't do it without you. Thanks again xx<em>


	36. Chapter 36

**CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX**

As soon as the bell rang for the end of school Poppy ran out as fast as she could. After the 'incident' in the library she had skipped her afternoon lessons, choosing to hide under the bleachers and read an old Sarah Dessen novel. She always had a teen-lit novel in her bag, back-up in case she got into a situation in which she needed to avoid reality – which seemed to be happening far too much lately.

Eric was waiting in the usual spot but Poppy would be the only one he would be driving home this afternoon as Holly was going over to Owen's and Lily had errands to run in town.

Poppy slammed the car door shut and slumped into the passenger seat. It was the first time she had ever skipped class and the nerves and guilt were long past boiling point.

'Good day?' Eric asked with a raised eyebrow at the slammed door.

'Fantastic.' Poppy bit out sarcastically. Hugging her bag to her chest and scowling. 'How was yours?'

Eric shrugged and turned the ignition.

'Same old.'

With Eric that could mean anything from broken carburettor to an exorcism.

They were cruising down Maple when Eric realised that Poppy hadn't uttered a word for twenty minutes. The only sound that could be heard in the car were the dulcet tones of Chris Cornell, and although Eric was quite happy to listen to the dude all day the silence from Poppy was disconcerting.

Poppy was normally the light and bouncy sister, the one who talked constantly about anything be it random or profound, and it varied between endearing and pain-in-the-ass annoying. Eric cast a look over his youngest cousin. She was frowning so hard she looked like the spitting image of his boss Horatio, only without the handlebar moustache. Eric didn't think in the whole time he had been working with him he had seen him crack a smile. Poppy couldn't screen her emotions very successfully; it was one of the things Eric liked most about her and why they got on so well. Lily was Fort Knox when it came to her feelings. She was afraid the truth of what she was feeling would hurt those around her so she concealed a vast wealth of what she was feeling all the time, which annoyed Eric no end. Holly was more manipulative; she had the perfect poker face and was incredibly crafty when it came to making people believe things she wanted them to believe. Poppy was the definition of candid, at least she normally was. What was troubling her? He knew he couldn't bluntly push her if she wanted to stay quiet, so Eric would have to try another tactic. He knew just the thing to take her mind off it.

'Let's go shopping.' He said, taking an abrupt turn at the intersection in order to head into the city.

That got Poppy's attention.

'_Shopping_?' She made it sound like he had just asked her to fly to Mars.

'Yeah.' He said casually. 'You look like you could do with a coat. And new clothes'

Poppy looked down, she was wearing a thick jumper with an ironic, at least to her, poodle on it that was at least two sizes too small and scarf that Wyatt had bought her for Christmas three years ago. Although the San Francisco winters were famously mild, Poppy felt the cold right down to her bones at the faintest whiff of a northerly wind.

'I guess.' Poppy had in fact asked for a coat a month ago, but with the whole Owen-nearly-getting murdered fiasco it had been forgotten and Poppy had thought that frivolities like clothes shopping were best avoided until the air cleared. 'Are you sure you're all right to take me?'

Eric never went shopping. He tended to stay clear of any kind of store except a liquor store until all of his clothes were falling apart, which meant that he generally went about once every year and a half. 'I'd rather shop with you than either of your sisters. Lily's too tight with money and Holly's so spendthrift it's like shopping with Paris Hilton.' Eric said cocking a brow.

'How do you know who Paris Hilton is?' Poppy asked, amused now.

'Mom used to like _Perez _Hilton.' Eric said embarrassedly. 'She used to rattle on about the daily gossip every breakfast.'

'That's just too funny.' Poppy giggled. 'I can imagine you glaring at her and sat there with your arms crossed trying not to throw fireballs at her.'

'Mom was impervious to my glare. In fact, I think she used to talk about celebrities just to annoy me. Before I lived with her and Dad, I had no accurate conception of the mortal world. I'd been brainwashed into thinking about it a certain way. All their materialism and vanity was a huge shock for me when I became acclimatised to this realm.'

'What way were you brainwashed into thinking it about?'

Eric ran a hand through his hair, uncomfortable. It took a minute for him to censor his reply.

'All the demon kids were, at least in my _family_. We were taught that mortals were ungrateful, weak and greedy, that humanity was an aberration that was harming the natural order of things. We were told that we needed to destroy any aspect of humanity we came across, that it was our duty and that the world of demons needed to be restored. Our raison d'etre was to teach mortals how the world really worked through pain and torture. Whenever we did come to this world it was just so alien for me. I wasn't used to everything being so backhand, so corrupt. Maybe that's why I can't stand liars. With demons everything is straight up. If you want something you work for it or take it. You expect a fight. Mortals have it so easy and they get away with so much. One day in my childhood would set them straight. I don't think I'd ever had a hug before Mom adopted me. There was no love, everything was harsh and brutal. There were a lot of beatings. I think that's how I knew there was something wrong with demon doctrine of living, what bothered me the most. I remember coming to earth and feeling so jealous of kids coming loving family because I never had that and I could never understand why things had to be different.'

'That's so warped.' Poppy's eyes were sympathetic and slightly surprised.

Eric had never opened up about his past to her before. She had always guessed he never wanted to talk about it but now she realised that it wasn't that, it was that it was too painful for him because his past was so inextricably caught up with his adoptive parents, and by talking about his past it meant he was forced to think about his dead parents.

'I owe Mom and Dad so much. They gave me everything I ever wanted. I don't mean with things or toys or stuff, I mean with love and kindness. They invested so much time in me, like, Mom used to read to me every night before bed and Dad used to teach me, it sounds so lame, how to be a good man.'

'I loved Aunt Kim.' Poppy said sadly. 'I remember when we found out about the accident, no one could find you for days.'

Eric laughed. It was a short, empty laugh that cut through her like a shiver of cold wind.

'I shimmered to another plane. I didn't know where I was, only that I was somewhere good, somewhere happy. Everything got a bit too much and I couldn't deal. Time passes differently on other planes, it felt like I was away for a century or so. When I came back only a week had gone past.' Eric shot her a grin. 'Of course, I came home to find everyone knee deep in grieving. That was fun.'

'Do you ever see any of your…brothers and sisters?' Poppy asked, struggling to find an appropriate term. 'You know, from when you were younger?'

Eric looked uncomfortable again.

'I killed them all.'

'Oh.'

'I offered them a chance to turn away from a demonic life but by that time they were too far gone. The thing is, that's the cruellest part of it all. When demons die they end up elsewhere, they go on to another life, another plane, another existence. Sure, they're made to pay for their crimes, they go to some sort of hell for eternity. But they get to carry on. When mortals die they're…gone.'

'Do you really believe that?' Poppy asked in surprise.

Eric shrugged.

'I've never had any evidence to suggest anything else.'

'But isn't that better?' Poppy argued. 'When their life ends all the pain and suffering stops too.'

'Not for the mortals who were evil or for those taken before it's their time.' Eric said sharply. 'How do they pay for their sins? How is it better for an innocent child who dies before they've had a chance to live and their life just stops?'

Poppy stared out of the window, wondering. She always known that Eric was complex and that he thought differently to anyone she knew. He had always been honest about his feelings about demons, but he had never revealed the reasons as to why he felt the way he felt about mortals. It was more than just jealousy. Poppy knew that when Eric died, no matter all the good he had done since he was a teenager, because he was born demon he would go to a hell dimension and it frightened him. Poppy could see that Eric hated mortals for having things 'so easy', but he also knew how the system worked. The flaws in it.

'So our parents are gone then? Truly gone?'

'They weren't mortals, Poppy. But, yeah.' Eric sighed heavily. 'And anyone who's told us otherwise is just trying to make themselves feel better.'

'But Phoebe's grams appears all the time. And Piper Halliwell sometimes comes back. The spirits of the witches in our family help us out sometimes.'

'Yeah, but they're not _living_.'

'Yeah, but they're not _gone._'

Eric had pulled up into a parking space and turned off the engine. Finally Poppy was getting the answers Phoebe, Coop and Chris had never given her.

'_Our_ parents are though. We haven't seen or heard from them once since they've died. And Prue's never come back in a corporeal form.'

'Their spirits are around though. I think that sometimes I can feel Mom or Dad around me. I know it sounds stupid, but I know they're looking down on us.'

'That's the humanity in you. I wasn't born with any so it's harder for me to feel like that. For me it's all just…a void. Deaths of the people I love is an unbearable emptiness for me. It's a daily struggle to know that I won't ever see them again or talk to them.'

Poppy placed a hand over Eric's. She felt exactly the same way.

'Have you never been tempted to cast a spell? Make them return to you for you to say goodbye?'

Eric's mouth twitched. Such a Poppy thing to say.

'I'm not a witch. And I could never be so selfish to ask that of Grams. Or you three.'

'I wouldn't mind.'

'Poppy, it's an advanced spell. It took Grams and her sisters years to be able to perform it properly.'

'Oh, well.' Poppy smiled. 'OK.'

'Jeez.' Eric let out a long breath. 'How can I not talk to anyone about these things for years and years and then it all comes bursting out at once. To you of all people?'

'What's that supposed to mean?' Poppy asked indignantly.

'I just mean that you're so young Poppy.' Eric told her softly. 'You shouldn't have to think about this stuff .'

'Shouldn't have to doesn't mean that I don't already. Eric, I'm a Charmed One. Of course I'm going to have to think about stuff like the afterlife. And I'm not _that _young.'

'You had me fooled.' Eric said mischievously. 'You dress like a ten year old. Come on, let's get out of this car and get you dressed like a young adult.'

'Hey!' Poppy complained, jumping out of the car and following him up the street. 'I do _not _dress like a fifth grader! And if we're starting on clothes, who are you trying to kid with all the torn up jeans, plaid and leather? You're not a 90s grunger, you know! No matter how hard you try you'll never be Eddie Vedder!'

Eric turned around and grinned at her. He might not have uncovered what had upset Poppy at school, and their conversation really didn't go where he wanted it to, but at least he had successfully diverted her mind to something else.

* * *

><p>'Sorry I'm late.' Lily apologised, slightly out of breath from rushing to get to the café in time.<p>

'I was beginning to think you were standing me up, again.' Freddy grinned, leaning back in his chair and surveying Lily with a slight smile.

She went pink.

'Oh, no, I missed the bus…late pupil.' Lily gushed, 'And I didn't stand you up.'

'I know.' Freddy pushed her coffee towards her, 'I was just pulling your leg.'

'Hmmm.' Lily smiled happily. 'Americano, my favourite. Thank you. Have you got band practise later?' Lily nodded at the guitar case that was leaning against the wall behind Freddy.

'Yeah. We're playing a party tomorrow night, first gig we've played in a while.'

'Ah nice, whose party?'

'A sophomore, Xander Whedon? Don't know him that well but apparently there's going to be a keg or few so the guys are happy.'

'You don't drink?' Lily asked, detecting that Freddy didn't say that he was happy about the keg.

Freddy shook his head.

'No.' He looked down at his lap, the first time Lily had ever seen him uncomfortable. 'Mom's brother died of alcoholism. And my Dad's side of the family never drink so I respect that way of living. Body is a temple and all that.'

'That must be difficult.' Lily said, 'Watching your bandmates get wasted around you while you don't touch a drop.'

'I don't get on their backs about it.' Freddy said casually. 'I mean, it's their choice. There have been some times where I've wanted to throttle Gabe for having one too many but it doesn't happen that often. The music comes first. How was your day? I haven't seen you around school all week.' 'I know.' Lily smiled embarrassedly. 'I've been so busy. I've been doing college apps and seeing pupils, I've had no time to do anything.'

'It's scary isn't it? I can't believe it's senior year. Seems like yesterday I was a gawky Freshman with no clue. I still have no clue.'

'Well, you're definitely not gawky so you needn't worry about that.' Lily grinned, then blushed again as she realised what she had said sounded like a compliment. Not that that mattered, at least from the smile it brought out on Freddy's face.

'Are you going to the party?'

'Who's party?'

'Xander Whedon's.' Freddy laughed.

'Oh.' Lily blushed again. 'No, I'm not. Why would I? I don't know any of those guys.'

'I thought your sister's friends with them?'

'No, not really. Not anymore. She's hanging out with Owen and the new girl Riley, she's done with those lot, Alexi, Danny...'

'Ah.' Realisation dawned in Freddy's eyes. 'I remember. So no way of making you drop by the party?'

'You'd have to bargain with me real hard…' Lily joked.

'Really?' Freddy's eyes lit up playfully. 'Hmm, well I'll be there.'

'Hm, sorry that's not enough temptation.' Lily said mock seriously, trying to hide her grin behind her coffee mug. 'Throw Red into the mix, covered in chocolate and wearing some sort of butler's uniform, and we might have some kind of a deal.'

Freddy, who had been taking a sip from his own mug, let out a bark of laughter, spraying coffee all over the table.

'Sorry! Sorry! Did I get any on you?'

'No, it's OK.' Lily giggled, helping him to mop up the table.

'Sorry, that mental image is just fantastic. I might be laughing for days.'

'No more coffee for you then.' Lily said sternly, taking the cup away from Freddy whilst he closed his eyes and laughed even more.

* * *

><p>Eric and Poppy were at the cashier in Gap paying for the finishing touches to her new winter wardrobe. They had found cords, jeans, jumpers and hippyish t-shirts. Before, Eric had even let Poppy venture next door into the vintage store to look for some old band t-shirts. Eric had smiled wryly, saying that if she was going to start dressing like Brice she might as well admit how she felt about him. Poppy had just narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance, which made him laugh.<p>

Although he didn't want to admit it, he was having a lot of fun with Poppy. She was easily the most natural of all the Marston sisters, nothing seemed to irritate her or stress her out. At least, once her mood perked up a bit, which it had considerably during the shopping trip. Eric was enjoying spoiling her, seeing her face light up from the attention being paid to her warmed his heart. He had a feeling it wasn't often that Poppy was made to feel special.

'So, how come you don't go to parties?' Eric asked. 'When I was your age I was sneaking out to go to senior shindigs all the time.'

Poppy wrinkled her nose as she took her purchases the shop girl was handing her.

'It's different for girls. Freshman girls can't just rock up to Darcy Chase's house expected to be welcomed with open arms. There's a system. I have to wait for my time at the top of the social hierarchy. That's if I even wanted to be there…'

'Ah I forget how different things are in private school. I didn't go to one. Why don't you wear a uniform? I thought they were part in parcel of the thousands of dollars per semester.'

'The seniors got rid. Ugh, do you have to?' Poppy frowned as Eric lit up a cigarette as soon as they left the store.

'Yep. You freshman could still do something though.' Eric suggested, 'I'm pretty sure Holly didn't wait to be cordially invited to the best gatherings.'

'No,' Poppy laughed. 'Hol took a route quite similar to yours. She snuck out all the time and wheedled her way in. Anyway, why do you care about how social I am?'

'Poppy, you have one friend.' Eric said brusquely. 'I'm trying to look out for you. Don't you wish you could hang out with more girls?'

'Where are your friends, Eric?' Poppy asked, extremely annoyed. 'Cause you're hardly ever home for being social, going to parties, going to clubs…whatever.'

'My upbringing wasn't as warm and cosy as yours Poppy,'

'Ah yeah.' Poppy apologised, looking sheepish. 'Sorry.'

Eric rolled his eyes.

'I'm going to draw you out of your shell Poppy my love. From now on, it is my personal mission to make you fun. I'm going to show you my favourite places around the city.'

'Bit of a funny thing to be doing if you want me to make more _girl _friends.'

Boy, Poppy was hard work sometimes.

'I need caffeine.' Eric announced. Lots of it, he thought.

'Hey, Lily drinks in here!' Poppy said. 'She likes the Americanos.'

Poppy couldn't understand why Eric's face suddenly fell.

'I can see that.'

She followed his gaze. Lily was sitting on a coach, legs tucked under her, chatting to Freddy Whitepath. They both had the biggest grins on their faces.

'Let's go in and say hi!' Poppy gushed.

Eric grabbed hold of her hand, stopping her as she began to make her way into the coffee house.

'Are you blind or something?' He scowled. 'They look like they're on a date.'

'So what?' Poppy started, but then realisation dawned as she understood just where Eric's bad mood had descended from.

Oh wow, Poppy thought. This explains a lot.

Eric was staring at Lily and Freddy, his expression both sullen and somewhat startled. At was as if he had been punched in the face.

Poppy didn't know what to say. Did he want to talk about it? Knowing Eric, he wanted to talk about this as much as he wanted to talk about Paris Hilton.

'Are you-'

'Let's go home.' Eric said, tearing his eyes away from where Lily was now offering Freddy a bite of her chocolate and spearmint shortbread. Without a backwards glance, Eric began to march his way to the car. If it weren't in this awkward situation, Poppy would've found the sight of Eric rushing determinedly somewhere laden with bags upon bags of new clothes somewhat comical.

'Hey!' Poppy gasped, struggling to keep up with his long strides. 'HEY!'

'What?' Eric barked.

'I know you don't want to talk about it…but…What makes you think that our afternoon of fun ends here?' Poppy demanded, standing in front of him and folding her arms across her chest.

Her cousin raised a questioning eyebrow.

'Come on.' Poppy now led the march back to where the jeep was parked. 'What's next on our bucket list? I veto ice-cream and lots of it. Don't worry, we'll make sure you get something coffee flavoured.'

Eric smiled slightly as he followed her, thoughts of Lily slowly being pushed to the back of his mind. Why Poppy only had one friend was a complete mystery to him. She was the sweetest girl he knew.


	37. Note For Readers

Note for readers. 27th June 2013.

Hey hey! Just wanted to drop a small line to say I'm coming back to the story. Firstly, I'm sorry I've been away for so long and that updates have been sporadic and negligent. My life changed dramatically after I left university and I'm now in a position to begin writing again. But, woo! I'm back. I hope to update the next chapter by the end of the month.

In the meantime…please follow me on Spotify (if you have it). I'm beginning to create Holly, Poppy and Lily (H, P and L respectively) playlists (rather exciting!) and also on Tumblr, if you're interested in where my thought processes go with writing and what inspires me. Both usernames are: ampersand355

Thanks for sticking with the story. I hope you haven't given up on it! I'm so excited to begin updating again! The wait won't be long, I promise. Love xx


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